{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140801085035/http://meehan.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&itemid=678", "Meehan Continues Fight Against ObamaCare Mandates on Fire Companies", "2013-12-10", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "PA", "Pat Meehan", "M001181", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Meehan Continues Fight Against ObamaCare Mandates on Fire Companies\n\n\tCo-Sponsors Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act\n\n\tWASHINGTON, DC \u2013Congressman Patrick Meehan (PA-07) today joined his colleagues in the House to co-sponsor the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act, which will ensure that emergency services volunteers are not counted as full-time employees under the employer mandate in ObamaCare.\n\n\tMeehan co-sponsored the legislation after sending a letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel in September seeking answers for volunteer fire companies. The IRS has not responded to this letter. Meehan joined the National Volunteer Fire Council and the\u00a0International Association of Fire Chiefs who also sent letters to Commissioner Werfel about this issue.\n\n\t\u201cRequiring volunteer fire companies to comply with the \u2018Shared Responsibility\u2019 mandates and consider their volunteers as full-time employees would not extend health insurance to the uninsured,\u201d Meehan wrote. \u201cIt would cost communities volunteers and risk shuttering firehouses. I urge the IRS to immediately clarify its treatment of volunteer firefighters regarding the employer mandate, providing certainty to small communities and volunteers who serve them.\u201d\n\n\t###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://web.archive.org/web/20140801085035/http://meehan.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&itemid=678"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7638083770871162, "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"}