In The News

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) addressed students who will graduate from the George Washington School of Nursing in January, assuring them that they have chosen a “superb profession.” “We have a significant need for more health care professionals with the Affordable Care Act, the aging of our population—all of these things are creating that demand,” Sen. Kaine said during his visit to GW’s Virginia Science and Technology Campus (VSTC) on Monday. “Campuses like t...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON—Some senators are making a last-ditch push to force a December debate on U.S. military operations against Islamic State militants, though a congressional vote authorizing the use of military force remains unlikely until 2015. Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) on Wednesday introduced a resolution declaring war against Islamic State, saying Congress has to fulfill its constitutional duty to declare war. “Right now, this war is illegal until Congress acts,” Mr. Paul said. Sens. ...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do more to reward states like Virginia that have already tried to reduce carbon emissions as it completes its proposed Clean Power Plan. That plan aims to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants by 30 percent by 2030. In a letter to the EPA, Kaine said Virginia has already reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 38 percent since 2005. A one-size-fits-all approach hits Virginia disproportionately hard, he said. Instead, he said ...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., is urging Congress to debate and vote on authorizing the use of military force against Islamic State militants before the Dec. 11 recess. “Allowing a president to conduct a unilateral military action that he himself has described as a war for six months without a vote in Congress would be really catastrophic,” Kaine said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It would be a huge overreach by the executive, but that overreach only happens if Congress decides to abdicate ...Continue Reading

Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are co-sponsoring legislation to provide up to 15,000 visas annually for Koreans with specialized skills that are lacking in the U.S. labor market. The bill, introduced by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., addresses a gap in the U.S. free trade agreement with Korea, which unlike similar agreements negotiated before 2003 did not specifically address visas. “Smart reforms in the high-skill visa program will help Virginia businesses struggling to find qualified in...Continue Reading

The Keystone XL pipeline wouldn't go anywhere near Virginia, but Virginia -- especially Hampton Roads -- has a big stake in it, Sen. Tim Kaine just told the U.S. Senate, outlining his reasons for opposing the project to pipe oil from Canadian tar sands deposits south. He told his fellow Senators about Hampton Roads' concerns about rising sea levels. He said the state's farm, forestry and tourism sectors would all be hurt by climate change. "So those who want to duck the question of climate chang...Continue Reading

El centro de análisis Diálogo Interamericano, presidido por Michael Shifter, otorgó al senador demócrata de Virginia, Timothy Kaine, un reconocimiento por su Servicio Público en las Américas. El senador Kaine recibió el premio de manos de Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty III, quien fungió como jefe de gabinete de la Casa Blanca durante el gobierno del presidente Bill Clinton. La entrega del reconocimiento tuvo lugar el 13 de noviembre e...Continue Reading

Virginia’s senators paid attention. The 2014 elections saw Republicans win control of the Senate and expand their majority in the House. Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine looked at the numbers and drew appropriate conclusions. Warner barely survived a race that was not expected to be close. His near-death experience focused his attention. Kaine, too, followed his home state’s returns with diligence. Last week, Senate Democrats kept Nevada’s Harry Reid as their leader. Warner ...Continue Reading

Robert McCartney, a Washington Post metro columnist, noted the symbolism. The Concert for Valor on Veterans Day saluted the Americans who did their duty when their nation called. The Capitol dome served as the backdrop for the solemn ceremony. The music outside the Capitol honored veterans, yet the men and women elected to serve inside the stately edifice have shirked their obligations. McCartney referred specifically to the congressional role in authorizing war. The campaign against the Islamic...Continue Reading

With Congress returning to Washington today, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine predicts the Senate soon will debate and likely vote on whether to authorize using American troops against the Islamic State terror group. Kaine and others in Congress have objected to President Barack Obama's use of airstrikes against the terrorist group, also known as ISIL, in Iraq and Syria without getting congressional approval. They argue only Congress has the constitutional authority to decide whether the U.S. can take offens...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is demanding a vote authorizing military force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria during the lame-duck session, calling it the “height of public immorality” to delay congressional approval. Congress should take up military authorization “right now in the lame duck,” said Kaine, who has emerged as one of the top Democratic critics of President Obama’s strategy, during a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Wednesday. “There&rsq...Continue Reading

A Virginia building tile company with a Danville factory is among those U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said could be hurt by new Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the senator said in a letter written last week. Columbia Flooring, the Danville branch of Mohawk Industries, manufactures hardwood flooring for the larger corporation. The plant, which employs about 300 workers, has plans to add 40 more sometime this year. During a tour of the plant last year, manager Bert Eades said the floori...Continue Reading

The Navy will be moving more than 500 jobs from Washington to Norfolk over the next five years, top officials announced Thursday. Navy representatives said all but a small group of the Navy’s Military Sealift Command staff will be relocating to the organization’s headquarters in Norfolk by 2019. The move will include 455 civilian employees, 30 active duty officers and 22 active duty enlisted positions. “Consolidation in Virginia will help us streamline all of our processes,&rdq...Continue Reading

The long slog to attract federal money for projects to prepare Hampton Roads for sea level rise has been punctuated by small advances. In June came the announcement of a two-year pilot project, with support from the White House, to study local adaptation to sea level rise. Then U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine organized a well-attended forum at Old Dominion University on the topic. Now, Kaine is reaching out to federal agencies to encourage them to support the effort. In a letter last week to 11 agencies, in...Continue Reading

United States Senator Tim Kaine, reflecting on his recent trip to India, said he not only saw new opportunities to foster US-India trade and economic ties under the Narendra Modi government, but also saw the necessity to ante up joint counter-terrorism cooperation. Kaine, chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, which has jurisdiction over matters pertaining to the Indian Subcontinent, was accompanied by Senator Angus King, an independe...Continue Reading

Last month, when a group of seven Girl Scouts from Hampton Roads met with Sen. Tim Kaine to talk about science, technology, engineering and math education they (and he) probably figured they were talking about a subject – career and technical education and girls’ access to it – particularly important to the senator, and to the girls. But they were, of course, also talking about something else: being engaged in civic and political life. Thinking of that, a new survey by the Girl...Continue Reading

Why is India important to the United States? My recent visit to India left me more convinced than ever that the growing partnership between the United States and India will be a leading force for security, democracy and prosperity in the 21st century. Since both countries signed the U.S-India civil nuclear deal, the relationship has grown by leaps and bounds. The breadth of our cooperation ranges from counterterrorism and cyber security, to space exploration and clean energy. But it is not just ...Continue Reading

GATE CITY, Va. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded the Scott County Telephone Cooperative with a $3 million grant to establish a broadband network in a section of Dickenson County, Virginia. On Wednesday, the USDA awarded $190.5 million in grants and loans to make broadband and other advanced communications infrastructure improvements in rural areas around the country, including in southwest Virginia. The Scott County Telephone Cooperative has received several multi-million do...Continue Reading

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., on Tuesday criticized Congress for its refusal to debate and vote on authorizing the use of military force against Islamic State militants before the Nov. 4 elections. “Why would we adjourn on the 18th of September, which is the second earliest recess before a midterm election since 1960, with a war underway that Virginians are serving in? Why would we adjourn without debating that?” Kaine said in a midday Public Square, hosted by the Richmond Times-Disp...Continue Reading

Five-months after the landslide election of Narendra Modi as India's prime minister, U.S. lawmakers are increasingly optimistic about prospects for more robust security cooperation and greater bilateral trade and investment. “Right after the Modi government came in, from afar I looked at it and saw this as a great opportunity for deeper economic integration  . . .  also military and security cooperation,” Sen Tim Kaine, D-Va., a member of both the Senate Armed Services and ...Continue Reading