{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/article/king-cheers-red-sox-jeers-gridlock-during-video-chat", "King cheers Red Sox, jeers gridlock during video chat", "2013-10-30", "2013", "2013-10", "Independent", "House", "ME", "Angus King", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "King cheers Red Sox, jeers gridlock during video chat\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n                \r\n                Senator talks economy, healthcare during Skype session with Hall-Dale students.\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Susan McMillan\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            Wednesday, October 30, 2013\r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            With Game 6 of the World Series looming, U.S. Sen. Angus King apparently had baseball on his mind as he spoke with Hall-Dale Middle School students today.\r\nAsked by eighth grader Cole Lockhart what he\u2019s doing for Maine, King said the most important thing he can do is help Maine businesses create jobs.\r\n\u201cTrying to make Maine a better place is the whole reason I\u2019m doing this,\u201d King said, speaking to students in a video conference. \u201cYou don\u2019t hit too many home runs in this business, but hopefully you hit singles and the occasional double, and in the long run it\u2019ll help build the Maine economy.\u201d\r\nLater, just before King signed off, another student asked who he\u2019d root for in tonight\u2019s World Series game. King said he\u2019d root for the Red Sox, of course, and praised the Sox for playing together as a team and succeeding in spite of having few major stars on the roster.\r\n\u201cEverybody\u2019s contributing in different ways, and I think it\u2019s a good example for us of the importance of teamwork and working together to achieve a result,\u201d King said.\r\nThat contrasted with some of King\u2019s descriptions of Congress, particularly regarding the recent shutdown of the federal government. King, an independent, said Democrats and Republicans need to talk to each other, work together and be willing to compromise.\r\nKing spent more than 30 minutes talking with the Hall-Dale students. He has video conferenced with students at several high schools since joining the Senate this year.\r\nSocial studies teacher Amelia Clukey, who arranged the Skype session, said students brainstormed questions in her class, coming up with about 45 of them, then they selected 25 that would be most relevant based on current events. Students asked about the debate over the federal budget, the federal debt, wind power and health care reform.\r\nAsked why the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, is so controversial, King said one reason is that President Obama\u2019s name is attached to the law, and a lot of people just don\u2019t like Obama.\r\nKing said there\u2019s \u201cno excuse\u201d for the failure of the website that\u2019s supposed to allow people to sign up for health insurance through the law, but the ideas behind it are good. King told the students about receiving an early diagnosis and effective treatment for a deadly cancer, melanoma, in his late 20s, thanks to having health insurance because of his job.\r\n\u201cThey caught it, I had an operation, and here I am,\u201d King said. \u201cSo I know personally the importance of having health insurance. It\u2019s hard to persuade me that it\u2019s OK to have 50 million Americans who don\u2019t have health insurance.\u201d\r\nEighth grader Cam Corbin reached back to King\u2019s tenure as governor, asking his thoughts on the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, which King\u2019s administration created to provide a laptop for every student in seventh or eighth grade. The Skype session was conducted using the Internet connection and webcam on Clukey\u2019s laptop, provided through the initiative, and shown on a screen at the front of the Hall-Dale auditorium.\r\nKing said the initiative has been a success, and he\u2019s glad it got through the Legislature in spite of considerable opposition. King said people who emailed his office about the initiative opposed it 10-to-1, and a legislator told him it was as controversial as \u201cgay marriage, clear-cutting and abortion, all rolled into one.\u201d\r\nAfter the event, Corbin said he asked the question because the program has had a major impact on him and his classmates.\r\n\u201cI\u2019m glad he stuck with his decision because it\u2019s great for our learning today,\u201d he said.", 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.king.senate.gov/newsroom/article/king-cheers-red-sox-jeers-gridlock-during-video-chat"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.888679176568985, "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"}