{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/in-chesterfield-kaine-meets-with-paralyzed-veterans-discusses-healthcare-", "In Chesterfield, Kaine Meets With Paralyzed Veterans, Discusses Healthcare", "2016-12-12", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "In Chesterfield, Kaine Meets With Paralyzed Veterans, Discusses Healthcare \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMonday, December 12, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was in Chesterfield to meet with members of Paralyzed Veterans of America and discuss veterans\u2019 healthcare. In the Senate, Kaine has been a strong advocate for improved healthcare services at the VA.\r\n\u201cMy work on the Senate Armed Services Committee keeps me very involved in veterans\u2019 healthcare and service reform issues, so I was glad I had the chance today to hear directly from Virginia\u2019s veterans on how I can best represent their needs in Congress,\u201d Kaine said. \u201cI just co-sponsored a bill that would help speed up the process of determining disability benefits at the VA. It just takes too long and there\u2019s now a backlog of about 450,000 cases. We need to devote more personnel, resources, and technology systems to work on this.\u201d\r\nLast week, Kaine announced\u00a0his \u200esupport for a bill to reform the benefits appeals process at the\u00a0Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs (VA) and address the significant backlog of appeals at the agency. In September, Kaine and U.S. Senator Mark Warner introduced the\u00a0Providing Veterans Overdue Care Act, which would authorize leases for medical facilities in 15 states, including an outpatient facility in Hampton Roads. Today kicks off three days of events that Kaine will hold across Virginia focused on issues affecting families and the economy in the Commonwealth.\r\n###\u200e", 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.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/in-chesterfield-kaine-meets-with-paralyzed-veterans-discusses-healthcare-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5348258893936872, "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"}