Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, Chris Murphy and Dianne Feinstein in introducing legislation to close a current loophole that allows gun sales to proceed if a background check is not completed after 72 hours, even if the gun buyer is not legally allowed to purchase a gun. When a criminal background check indicates that a firearm purchaser may have a criminal record, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tries to determine whethe...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today on the announcement of a bipartisan budget agreement: “I’m pleased congressional negotiators and the Administration have reached a bipartisan deal to avoid a debt crisis and provide two years of sequester relief.  The deal provides more than $100 billion in sequester relief over two years for both defense and non-defense accounts, which will provide much-needed certainty to Virginia’s fa...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined 119 of their congressional colleagues in a letter to Acting Commissioner of Social Security Carolyn W. Colvin and Attorney General Loretta Lynch to make sure that the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality decisions are implemented and that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is treating all marriages equally. The letter urges SSA not to penalize married same-sex couples who received Supplemental Securit...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today: “Joe Biden is one of the finest and most passionate public servants America has ever known. We are stronger as a nation having had he and Dr. Biden as the President and First Lady’s closest partners for the past seven years.  The respect for Vice President Biden, both across the country and around the world, is simply unmatched. I applaud him for the goals he has set for the next 15 months an...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced that Virginia has been awarded nearly $1 million in federal planning grants to strengthen and improve community behavioral health clinics for mental and substance use disorder treatment. The grants, which are authorized under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, will improve the quality and access to behavioral care, strengthen payment options, and better utilize evidence-based practices on a more consiste...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – During National School Lunch Week, which is October 12-16, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) recommended ways Congress can streamline federal childhood nutrition programs to more efficiently feed hungry low-income children outside of school hours. The Senators’ suggestions come as the Senate prepares a bill to reauthorize those programs, including the national school breakfast and lunch programs – which serve nearly 400,000 hungry kids in Virginia...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine hosted a roundtable discussion at Up Center Books in Norfolk with local leaders and organizations focused on supporting ex-offenders as they return to their communities. Kaine is a supporter of legislation that provides communities with funding for reentry support – including substance abuse treatment and job training – to reduce recidivism. Up Center Books hosts two reentry programs for ex-offenders – the Responsible Fatherhood program and the Fa...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, released the following statement today: “Our support for the Afghan military should be based on conditions rather than an arbitrary date on the calendar. I support the President’s announcement that the U.S. will continue to provide such transitional military support as Afghanistan battles the Taliban and a nascent emergence of ISIL in that country. “The Presi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced that the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded $275,000 in grant funding to Friends of Southwest Virginia in Abingdon, Virginia to promote and support tourism, outdoor recreation and entrepreneurial activities in Southwest Virginia. Today’s funding was competitively awarded through the EDA’s Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative. &...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine joined U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and a bipartisan group of 20 other Senators in calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to take immediate, overdue action to fully implement and enforce the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). In a letter addressed to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and DOL Secretary Thomas E. Perez...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today in Richmond, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined a group of ex-offenders for a roundtable discussion about the challenges of returning to their communities following incarceration. The discussion was co-hosted by Adult Alternative Program, a program based in Richmond that helps former offenders obtain the training and credentials to prepare them for employment after incarceration. “My takeaways from today’s discussion were, first, we need to determine what educational programs...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A resolution, introduced by U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, commemorating the life and accomplishments of Robert E. Simon has passed the Senate in a unanimous vote. Simon, who passed away last month at the age of 101, founded the Town of Reston, Virginia. “Bob Simon was a visionary who recognized that all humans ought to be able to live together and be neighbors. His vision was of a community in which people could live, work, and play in the same general a...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a hearing today on the need for a new diplomatic security training facility to better protect U.S. embassy personnel overseas, witnesses from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the State Department testified to the fact that, despite years of delay as a result of Congressional pressure, Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia remains the best site for a new Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC).  Further, a witness from the Department of Homeland Sec...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Co-Chairs of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, along with U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), introduced the Creating Quality Technical Educators Act to expand the Higher Education Act's teacher residency grant program to help schools recruit and train high-quality CTE teachers. The Creating Quality Technical Educators Act would foster partnerships between high...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised passage of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference report, which passed the Senate 70-27 today following House passage of the legislation last week. The NDAA conference report, which is based on bills reported out of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees earlier in the year, includes a number of provisions that Kaine supported during the Committee markup ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today announced that new legislation (S. 2093) she has introduced, cosponsored by Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), that would improve safety oversight of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) has been passed today by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC). The legislation, which was introduced on September 29, would alter the way members of the Me...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $777,628 in grant funding to communities in Virginia to improve and expand access locally-grown foods. Today’s funding – made available by the Agricultural Act of 2014 – will support operations at local farms, markets and conservation organizations that promote locally-grown foods and support economic development and small business activit...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Gerald R. Ford-class carrier program, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine highlighted the work of the shipbuilders constructing the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) at Newport News Shipbuilding and the challenges of the cost-estimation process for first-in-class ships. “I’m proud to represent the thousands of shipbuilders who manufacture the largest and most complicated items on the planet Earth: nuclear aircraft carri...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine urged Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to develop a plan to stabilize the ship repair industry following a shortfall in workload requirements for the Hampton Roads area that has led to layoffs at BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair and Newport News Shipbuilding. The Senators suggested several options that the Navy could implement to increase stability and predictability of the workload at the private shipyards, including accel...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim’s announcement that he will not seek reelection: “When I was Mayor of Richmond, Paul Fraim was seen throughout Virginia as a Mayor's Mayor. We all admired his energy and vision in Norfolk. He has done a great job for a great city. I count him as a close friend, and he's given me good advice over the years. I join Norfolk citizens in thanking him for his long and dedicated...Continue Reading