In The News

Journalists occasionally joke that public figures “commit news.” On Tuesday Sen. Tim Kaine committed clarity and civility. The Virginia Democrat addressed The Times-Dispatch’s Public Square on war powers. He opened with a history of war-making; he spoke of the constitutional roles played by the president and the Congress. The Constitution identifies the president as the commander-in-chief and vests in Congress the power to declare war. Kaine explained that Congress has formally...Continue Reading

Nearly two years into his first term, Virginia’s junior senator, Timothy M. Kaine, has eased into his role as a leader on foreign relations and military affairs, a role that he did not necessarily seek when he ran for the office in 2012. “When I was a candidate, I certainly talked about our military as a huge talent pool that we need to take advantage of as people transition into civilian life,” Kaine said in an interview Friday. He had returned from his most recent trip to the...Continue Reading

The United States has not formally declared war since World War II. It has intervened militarily on numerous occasions, nevertheless. Americans have died in combat. The Constitution recognizes the president as commander-in-chief. It grants Congress the power to declare war. The situations since World War II have raised questions about the relationship between the executive and legislative branches regarding the defense of the realm. In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution, which has d...Continue Reading

AUGUSTA, Maine — Sens. Angus King and Tim Kaine are back in Washington after wrapping up a nine-day swing through the Middle East and south-central Asia with a visit to Qatar. The senators met Tuesday with Qatar’s prime minister and visited an air base that functions as the nerve center for the air campaign in Afghanistan and against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. At the base, the independent from Maine and Democrat from Virginia received a briefing from the deputy comman...Continue Reading

Throughout my life, I have witnessed the value of career and technical education. When I was growing up, my dad ran an ironworking shop where my mother, my brothers and I worked. During a good year, he employed seven welders and ironworkers. During a lean year, he employed five. As I watched them work, I learned to appreciate the tremendous craftsmanship and skill that went into ironworking. But at school, teachers and students often spoke about skills-based trades as if they were second-rate ca...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine has concluded a four-day trip India, during which he travelled with U.S. Sen. Angus King. He's moving on to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kaine chairs the Senate's Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs. Due to Shad Plank's noticeable lack of being India, we're just going to drop a couple paragraphs of Kaine's press release here: In New Delhi, the senators met with senior Indian defense and foreign affairs officials, including National ...Continue Reading

The creation of the Governor’s Task Force on Prescription Drug and Heroin Abuse is another important step when it comes to addressing the deadly scourge of prescription drug abuse in Virginia. Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed executive order 29 last month establishing the new task force, which is charged with recommending immediate steps to address the epidemic of prescription opiod and heroin abuse in the Commonwealth. The governor’s order also asks the task force to suggest strategies t...Continue Reading

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va.: “In letting the Fourth Circuit's decision stand, the Supreme Court has given loving couples across the commonwealth the freedom to marry. I join countless Virginians in celebrating the end of the discriminatory constitutional ban that has denied same-sex couples this fundamental right. Today, we have taken a major step toward Jefferson’s ideal that ‘all men are created equal.’" Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va. “Allowing people to marry who th...Continue Reading

Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine is urging the Bureau of Indian Affairs to loosen requirements for federal recognition because six Virginia tribes remain locked out. Six Virginia tribes are recognized by the British government but not U-S officials. That’s why Kaine says the Bureau of Indian Affairs – or B-I-A – needs to revamp criteria in order to secure the benefits of being a Native American tribe for the Virginia tribes. “The requirements at the BIA make it virtu...Continue Reading

ORANGE, Va. — In June, after he had written a scorching opinion article seeking to constrain the president’s unilateral power to make war, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, one of Barack Obama’s earliest supporters, buttonholed the commander in chief at the White House for what he called “a spirited discussion.” The militants of the Islamic State were pouring across the Syrian border into Iraq, and seizing cities where so much American blood and treasure had been spill...Continue Reading

When asked if he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up, Carson Ray is quick to correct. He wants to be an astronomer. But on Saturday, the 9-year-old was still interested in what astronauts carry with them to space. Underneath NASA’s “Earth Dome” tent on Virginia Tech’s Drillfield, Carson examined pouches of space food. After all, the information may come in handy when he dresses up as an astronaut later this month to go trick-or-treating. Hundreds of people attended ...Continue Reading

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va (WVIR) - The Boys & Girls Club has officially opened a new facility for children in Albemarle, Buckingham, and Fluvanna counties in the Old Scottsville School building. The James River Club celebrated the grand opening of its new space Saturday, though programs, such as cooking classes, started earlier this summer. "All of these people are here to show the kids that they support them, and their future, so we're really excited about that,” said James Pierce, directo...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON: Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "successful trip" to the US, two top American Senators would soon be travelling to India, during which they would meet senior defence and foreign affairs officials and pay their respect to the victims of 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Senators Angus King from Maine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, and Tim Kaine from Virginia, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South ...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is making another push to recognize six Virginia Indian tribes, including the Nansemond, through his support of a proposed rule that would bring more flexibility to the process. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs governs the process by which tribes in America can gain recognition from the federal government, and the benefits that come along with it. But even a summary of the proposed rule change acknowledges that the process has been ...Continue Reading

If President Obama initiates offensive action in Syria or Iraq, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D.Va., said he believes he needs congressional approval to do so. That point was made abundantly clear when Kaine addressed a group of Randolph-Macon College students last week in a question and answer session in the Birdsong Café located in the new Brock Commons. Kaine made national headlines when he recently questioned the president’s authority to conduct war without absent consent from the United...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) since June has been a consistent voice calling for both a measured offensive and congressional approval in the fluid U.S. confrontation with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kaine recently spoke with the Times-Mirror on the ISIL threat and the White House's handling of the situation. Here are some h...Continue Reading

In response to increasingly frequent drug-related cases in Virginia, a number of politicians are taking a stand. The attorney general’s office, the governor’s office and the office of Sen. Tim Kaine have each begun separate plans of action to address the issue in recent weeks. Attorney General Mark Herring has begun pursuing accountability of professionals — including doctors and pharmacists — who have violated state laws regarding opiates, including via over-prescription...Continue Reading

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, argued on "Face the Nation" Sunday that President Obama must seek authorization from Congress to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, or ISIL) in order to comply with the Constitution. "He does not have the Article Two constitutional authority to do this entire mission without Congress and neither of the authorizations passed by Congress in 2001 or 2002 cover it. We should be debating and voting on this entire mission," Kain...Continue Reading

Widad Abed saw an opening and didn’t hesitate to jump through. The principal of Richmond’s T.C. Boushall Middle School scanned the room, saw the answer to one of her school’s perennial struggles and, just as important, the people who can help her get what she needs. “As a principal, trying to get excellent teachers, that’s a challenge,” she said. “We need teachers who can make it happen for us.” For nearly two hours Friday, Abed hosted Sen. Tim Kai...Continue Reading

Durante más de cuarenta minutos, el senador Tim Kaine, de Virginia, dejó a un lado los temas de importancia nacional que se debaten en el Capitolio, como la guerra contra el grupo terrorista del Estado Islámico o el presupuesto de la nación. En vez de ello, se sentó en un aula escolar al lado de estudiantes de los primeros grados, donde dialogó con ellos y les leyó cuentos escritos en inglés y español. “Han sido realmente los m...Continue Reading