Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rob Portman (R-OH), co-chairs of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, introduced the Career Ready Act of 2015, legislation that would help ensure students are college and career-ready by strengthening school counseling programs and encouraging states to keep track of career readiness factors implemented in school districts. The Career Ready Act of 2015 amends the Elementary and Secondary S...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner along with U.S. Congressmen Rob Wittman (R-01), Bobby Scott (D-03), Gerry Connolly (D-11), and Don Beyer  (D-08) reintroduced legislation to grant federal recognition to six Virginia Indian tribes. The bill, the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2015, was introduced by Kaine and Wittman in the Senate and House, respectively. The bipartisan delegation introduced an earlier version o...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on the draft Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIL announced by President Obama today. For more than seven months, Kaine has been a leading voice urging the administration to seek a specific authorization for military action against ISIL while pressing his Congressional colleagues to debate and vote on the mission – a mission he believes goes beyond the intent of existing authorizati...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on the draft Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIL announced by President Obama today. For more than seven months, Kaine has been a leading voice urging the administration to seek a specific authorization for military action against ISIL while pressing his Congressional colleagues to debate and vote on the mission – a mission he believes goes beyond the intent of existing authorizations from 2001 and...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on Senate confirmation of Michael Botticelli as Director of National Drug Control Policy: “Drug abuse impacts families and communities across Virginia, and I appreciate Mr. Botticelli’s commitment to combatting this epidemic through expanded access to overdose treatments, education, and criminal justice system reforms,” said Kaine. “After meeting with Mr. Botticelli in July to discuss the opi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) today to introduce the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act, a common-sense bill that bans the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition and are designed for shooting en masse. “It’s clear from the tragedies at Virginia Tech, Newtown, and far too many other horrific shootings in our nat...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nomination of Dr. Ash Carter as Secretary of Defense, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine reiterated his call for the President to send a draft Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to spur Congress to debate and vote on the mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). “It is still my hope that the White House will send to us a draft Authorization for the Use of Military Force,” said Kaine. “I don’t...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere  hearing today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine questioned Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson and Assistant Secretary For Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tomasz Malinowski on the regional impact of U.S.-Cuba policy changes. “What about the regional reaction?” Kaine asked. “I have worried over time that the U.S. position v...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined his Democratic colleagues to advocate a clean bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and block Republican attempts to play politics with the agency’s funding and risk a shutdown of the critical agency over disagreements with the President’s immigration actions. “Republicans are threatening to stop funding DHS unless we reverse the President’s immigration actions,” Kaine said in remarks on ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on Pope Francis’s approval of a martyrdom declaration for Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero:  "I am thrilled by the Vatican's announcement today of a martyrdom declaration for Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was murdered in 1980. I worked in neighboring Honduras in late 1980-81 and came to know of Archbishop Romero's powerful Christian advocacy for the poor and his courageous witne...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on passage of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act: “I’m proud the Senate has voted overwhelmingly in support of this important bill in honor of Marine veteran Clay Hunt. Increased access to mental health services for veterans is critical to preventing military and veteran suicide. By creating peer support networks to help transitioning servicemembers and expanding efforts to recrui...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Claire McCaskill introduced the Teach Safe Relationships Act of 2015, legislation that would improve health education in public secondary schools where it is taught, by including information on “safe relationship behavior” which would focus on preventing sexual assault, domestic violence, and dating violence. Currently there is no federal requirement that health education courses cover topics like sexual assault prevention a...Continue Reading

FACT SHEET Teach Safe Relationships Act of 2015 Background: It’s widely recognized that relationship violence and campus sexual assault are major issues facing our nation. According to the Department of Justice more than 290,000 Americans are victims of rape and sexual assault each year with young women between the ages of 16 and 24 consistently experiencing the highest rate of intimate partner violence. Secondary schools can play an important role in increasing public safety by educating ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both members of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statements on President Obama’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2016: Senator Warner said: “The President’s budget proposal alleviates the harmful impact of across-the-board sequester cuts, which hits the federal workforce and military and civilian defense workers across Virginia especially hard. These sequester cuts are due to return in full for...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine visited Lewis & Clark Elementary School in Ruther Glen to speak with school administrators about the impact of early childhood education on Caroline County school children. During the discussion with educators and administrators, Kaine learned about the success of the Pre-K program at Lewis & Clark Elementary, as well as the high demand for more preschool classes to serve children who...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on the one year anniversary of the coal ash spill into the Dan River: “As we mark one year since a degraded pipe in a Duke Energy impoundment pond released more than 30,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River - putting Danville and surrounding communities at risk - we must recommit to protecting safe drinking water and natural resources across the Commonwealth, while developing energy resources that are cleane...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on passage of Keystone XL Pipeline legislation: “Today I voted against passage of legislation to summarily approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Our national goal should be to generate energy cleaner tomorrow than we do today, not to embrace tar sands oil that is 15-20% more pollution-intensive than conventional oil. Instead of accelerating the use of tar sands oil, we should grow our economy by embracing cleaner ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement on the report released today by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission (MCRMC): “After two years of hard work, the Commission has released a comprehensive set of proposals that lawmakers must consider as we examine our national security strategy, the defense budget, and commitments we have made to our servicemembers.  Last spring, I led efforts t...Continue Reading

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine introduced the Providing Resources Early for Kids (PRE-K) Act, legislation to expand access to high-quality early learning programs for children from birth to age five. The PRE-K Act will help more kids enter kindergarten ready to succeed by establishing federal-state partnerships that incentivize states to both improve the quality of state preschool programs and expand those programs to serve more children in need.   “Expanding acc...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced today that he will serve as the Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Management, International Operations and Bilateral International Development for the 114th Congress. Kaine will also continue to serve on the Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism, w...Continue Reading