{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://malliotakis.house.gov/media/press-releases/malliotakis-statement-progress-effort-block-bidens-va-hospital-closures", "Malliotakis Statement on Progress in Effort to Block Biden's VA Hospital Closures", "2022-06-28", "2022", "2022-06", "Republican", "House", "NY", "Nicole Malliotakis", "M000317", "malliotakis.house.gov", "malliotakis", "https://malliotakis.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "(STATEN ISLAND/BROOKLYN, NY) -Today Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) released the following statement after a bipartisan group of Senators committed to blocking the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission's recommendations to close VA hospitals across the country. Malliotakis has been leading the charge to save the Brooklyn VA Hospital from closing.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s completely unacceptable that the Biden Administration proposed closing veteran hospitals across the country including two right here in New York City,\" Malliotakis said. \u201cI\u2019ve been working diligently with veterans\u2019 organizations and House and Senate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to stop these proposed closures and protect the services so many veterans in our community rely on. The Senate\u2019s commitment to block the AIR Commission\u2019s recommendations is a key victory, however, we will continue to be vigilant and vocal and won\u2019t stop working to protect these facilities until the President definitively says any proposal from the AIR commission is dead on arrival.\u201d\n\nIn March, Malliotakis led two rallies with local veterans and elected officials outside the Staten Island and Brooklyn VA clinics to protest the closures. Under the VA\u2019s proposal, the Manhattan and Brooklyn VA Medical Centers would close entirely, contracting out inpatient and outpatient services to private medical providers as part of a new \u201cstrategic collaboration.\u201d While veteran mental-health services would be expanded on Staten Island, the clinic would merge with a VA medical campus in New Jersey. This means veterans who are patients at the Staten Island clinic would be forced to travel upwards of two hours round trip and face a burdensome $16 toll to receive specialized treatment.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:13:54Z"]], "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://malliotakis.house.gov/media/press-releases/malliotakis-statement-progress-effort-block-bidens-va-hospital-closures"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8651020471006632, "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"}