{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/who-im-fighting-for", "Who I’m fighting for", "2016-12-22", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Who I\u2019m fighting for \r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                Thursday, December 22, 2016\r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            \r\n                  \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Claire McCaskill\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            Here\u2019s the question Americans should always be asking every member of Congress: who are you fighting for?\r\nHere\u2019s who I\u2019m fighting for: Billy Hull.\r\nBilly Hull is a retired coal miner with nearly 30 years working at the Peabody Coal Power Mine near Montrose, Missouri. Mr. Hull wrote me a letter earlier this year, saying in part: \u201cMy Wife and I, married 59 years fall under the Patriot Coal Companies Voluntary Employees Beneficial Association (VEBA). My wife Earlene is a two time cancer survivor and I suffered a stroke in 2012. If we lose our benefits it will be hard for us to afford our medicine cost. Due to the bankruptcy of both Peabody Coal Co. and the Patriot Coal Company the Patriot VEBA fund will be exhausted in late 2016 leaving us without pension and healthcare benefits\u2026\u201d\r\nMr. Hull isn\u2019t alone. He\u2019s one of thousands of retired coal miners and their widows whose pensions and healthcare\u2014promised to them decades ago\u2014are now in jeopardy.\r\nMy friend, Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia has spent two years pushing for a fix\u2014his bipartisan Miners Protection Act, which I strongly support. But Republican leaders in the U.S. House and Senate refuse to act on the legislation.\r\nRather than fix the problem before they went home, several weeks before Christmas, elected Republican leadership kicked the can down the road with a four-month extension, and said that miners were lucky to get that.\r\nWell, that wasn\u2019t good enough for me, which is why I voted against the spending bill. Kicking the can doesn\u2019t fix this crisis. It only increases the uncertainty while ensuring Billy Hull and thousands like him will start receiving cancellation notices in a matter of months.\r\nI don\u2019t know who these U.S. House Republicans are fighting for, but it\u2019s not working Americans. And I\u2019ve got a message for them\u2014we\u2019ve got to get this right for these miners and their families. Because Billy Hull and thousands of Americans like him whose blood, sweat, and tears powered our nation for generations don\u2019t have the peace of mind that those members of the Congress are blessed with.\r\nMissouri\u2019s own Harry Truman\u2014whose Senate seat I hold today\u2014made a promise to these coal miners when he was President, that their government would always honor their pensions and health benefits. I\u2019m fighting to keep his promise. And I think I\u2019ll have some big help in President-elect Donald Trump, who\u2019s repeatedly promised to stand with America\u2019s coal workers.\r\nThis debate reminds me of a fight in Congress exactly two years ago. Back then, Congress approved a sprawling, $1 trillion spending package\u2014and tucked into that \u201comnibus\u201d bill was a provision allowing for deep cuts to retiree benefits for 32,000 Missourians participating in the Central States Pension Plan. I opposed that legislation, and I was the only member of Missouri\u2019s Congressional delegation to vote against it. Now I\u2019m backing legislation to undo that law.\r\nThen and now, I\u2019m fighting for Missouri\u2019s working families.\r\nAs my friend Senator Manchin said on the Senate floor\u2014if we don\u2019t stand for something, then we don\u2019t stand for anything.\r\nI\u2019m standing for Billy Hull. And I\u2019m going to keep fighting.\r\n            \r\n             \r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 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.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/who-im-fighting-for"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4715769793838263, "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"}