{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=897A0B7C-8A72-44E9-8D0A-BCBE94E88D44", "Heitkamp Thanks Military Kids and Families at Minot Air Force Base during Military Family Appreciation Month", "2016-11-03", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "ND", "Heidi Heitkamp", "H001069", "www.heitkamp.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "MINOT, N.D. \u2013 U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today met with the families of North Dakota servicemembers in Minot to thank them for their service during November\u2019s \u201cMilitary Family Appreciation Month.\u201d\r\nDuring her visit, Heitkamp read to young children at Minot Air Force Base\u2019s Child Development Center and then sat down to talk with elementary school children and parents at the David C. Jones Youth Center. Heitkamp thanked them for their sacrifice and spoke with families about ways to strengthen defense communities and support military families.\r\n\u201cBehind so many North Dakota men and women in uniform are proud families and kids who make sacrifices each and every day,\u201d said Heitkamp. \u201cMilitary spouses and kids serve as well \u2013 and Military Family Appreciation Month this month is a reminder of that. They give up a great deal to move to military bases, and they often move every few years or even multiple times a year. It can take a great deal out of a family. Sometimes those sacrifices go unnoticed or underappreciated, which is why I wanted to meet these families to say thank you and hear about any challenges they face. Minot Air Force Base\u2019s Child Development Center and Youth Center are great examples of the investments being made for North Dakota military families \u2013 but there\u2019s still more that we can do. I\u2019ll take the challenges and concerns I hear today back to the U.S. Senate to push for programs and resources that take care of military families who have given so much for our country.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn September, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter spoke at Minot Air Force Base to reinforce the importance of the nuclear missions at the Base and emphasize the $10 billion in investments nationally over the last two years to make improvements to those missions \u2013 including at Minot Air Force Base.\r\n###", 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://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=897A0B7C-8A72-44E9-8D0A-BCBE94E88D44"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1867047287523746, "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"}