{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://emmer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/emmer-visits-st-cloud-va-hospital", "Emmer visits St. Cloud VA Hospital", "2023-07-06", "2023", "2023-07", "Republican", "House", "MN", "Tom Emmer", "E000294", "emmer.house.gov", "emmer", "https://emmer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "ST. CLOUD, M.N. \u2013 In a continued effort to support the health and well-being of Minnesota veterans, Congressman Tom Emmer (MN-06) visited the St. Cloud Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center today.\n\n\u201cIt was a pleasure to meet with the VA\u2019s staff to discuss their important work to ensure that our veterans are getting the best quality care,\u201d Emmer said.\n\nDuring the visit, Congressman Emmer met with hospital leaders and staff members including Health Care System Director Brent Thelen, PhD, Chief of Staff Javed Tunio, MD, Associate Director of Patient Care Services/Nurse Executive Breta Monroe, APRN, Associate Director Cheryl Thieschafer, and Public Affairs Director Barry Venable.\n\nIn September, Emmer led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough urging him to improve veterans\u2019 ability to access emergency care. Specifically, the letter asked the Secretary to treat all emergency transport reimbursements the same way, regardless of a veteran's service-connected disability rating.\n\nAdditionally, with Emmer\u2019s support, the House of Representatives recently passed the Veterans\u2019 Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act. This legislation will provide a 4.2 percent increase in disability benefits to veterans and survivors\u2019 benefits to military families.\n\nSixth District veterans struggling to access benefits from the VA can receive support through Emmer\u2019s office. More information is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:18:03Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://emmer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/emmer-visits-st-cloud-va-hospital"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8711107075214386, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}