{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/king-applauds-passage-of-milcon-va-conference-report", "King Applauds Passage of MilCon-VA Conference Report", "2018-09-14", "2018", "2018-09", "Independent", "House", "ME", "Angus King", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "BRUNSWICK, ME\r\n Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) applauded Congressional passage of\r\nbipartisan legislation to fund the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), the Department\r\nof Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DoD). The package includes full\r\nfunding for the VA Mission Act, a bipartisan effort that seeks to improve the\r\navailability and quality of care through the VA. The legislation, which passed\r\nthe Senate last night and the House of Representatives this evening, now heads\r\nto the President's desk for signature.  America's\r\nveterans have earned our nation's eternal gratitude, and their dedicated\r\nservice deserves nothing less than the best care we can possibly provide, said\r\nSenator King. As a result of this week's overwhelmingly bipartisan votes,\r\nthe VA will have the funds it needs to look after our veterans. I'm\r\nparticularly pleased by the inclusion of funds for the VA MISSION Act, which\r\nwill strengthen the VA's status as a unique healthcare provider and help rural\r\nveterans to receive community care closer to home.  TheVA\r\nMISSION Actaims to consolidate and improve VA community care\r\nprograms, as well as improve VA's ability to hire high-quality healthcare\r\nprofessionals, expand VA caregiver benefits to veterans of all eras and\r\nestablish a process to evaluate and reform VA's existing facilities to best\r\nserve veterans. TheVA MISSION Acthas received broad support\r\nfrom leading veterans groups that represent millions of veterans in the United\r\nStates; in May,agroup\r\nof 38 veteran and military advocacy organizationswrote to the House\r\nand Senate in support of theVA MISSION Act.   Senator King has\r\nbeen a strong advocate for veterans issues since arriving in Washington. In\r\nJune,his bill to strengthen accountability of senior executives at the VA\r\nwas signed\r\ninto law. In May, he helda\r\nlistening session with Maine veteranson the qualities and values they\r\nare looking for in a new VA Secretary, and in April Senator Kingvisited\r\nthe Travis Mills Foundation Veterans Retreat in Rome, which brings injured\r\nveterans and their families to Maine in order to help the veterans overcome\r\nphysical obstacles with the support of family members. The Senator also highlighted\r\nthe important place of veterans in Maine by devoting hisNovemberandDecemberpodcasts\r\nto the subject, with Travis Mills as one of the guests on the latter show. In\r\nDecember, theU.S.\r\nDepartment of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it will fund three new positionsinMaineto\r\nbetter serve justice-involved Maine veterans confronting homelessness, mental\r\nhealth or substance abuse issues  a move which follows aFebruary\r\nletter from Senator King to the VAurging additional resources on\r\nthe topic. Senator King was a cosponsor of theDepartment of Veterans\r\nAffairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017, which\r\npassed the Senate in June 2017 and has since beensigned\r\ninto law.", 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/press-releases/king-applauds-passage-of-milcon-va-conference-report"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.0393659360706806, "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"}