In The News

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., introduced legislation Wednesday to authorize limited use of military force against the Islamic State, in response to President Barack Obama’s speech on U.S. strategy for dealing with the terror group. Islamic State poses a serious and imminent threat to stability in Iraq, Syria and regional neighbors, said Kaine, a member of the Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs. &ld...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-Va.) is set to unveil a proposal Wednesday to authorize military force in Iraq that would strictly limit the engagement of U.S. ground forces. The Associated Press reported Tuesday evening that the Virginia lawmaker, who is a member of both the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, seeks to repeal the 2002 authorization that two presidents have cited as their authority for military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL). Kaine's...Continue Reading

Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin and Wyoming might have economic differences, but senators from these four states see a common problem that could choke off any recovery: a lack of workers in the skilled trades. In Virginia, the challenge is evident in shipbuilding and ship repair, where the average worker age is 55 and 18,000 will leave the industry by decade's end, according to one survey. In Ohio, the same story surfaces in manufacturing, where a tool-and-die maker called a legislative town hall to p...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON — THE current threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, will test not only the resolve and strategic judgment of America and its allies, but also our nation’s fidelity to a basic constitutional principle. Our Constitution reserves to Congress the power to declare war and designates our president as the commander in chief, but our recent history has been characterized by executive overreach and legislative abdication in the initiation of military action....Continue Reading

Officials from Newport News Shipbuilding will join Sen. Tim Kaine in Washington Tuesday morning to discuss the challenge of filling jobs in technical fields and the skilled trades. The panel discussion, which includes other leaders in government, education and business, will be live-streamed starting at 11 a.m. In a recent visit to the shipyard's Apprentice School, Kaine criticized government policies that favor the pursuit of college degrees at the expense of people seeking jobs that require a ...Continue Reading

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia says the question of whether Congress needs to authorize President Barack Obama's declared war on Islamic State was settled by Thomas Jefferson when that president went after the Barbary pirates more than 200 years ago. Jefferson, a founding father, dispatched ships to the Barbary Coast of North Africa as a protection force in 1801 because Muslim pirates were seizing American merchant vessels. He then declared that he was "unauthorized by the Constitution...Continue Reading

RICHMOND, Va (WVIR) - The White House along with U.S. Senator Tim Kaine honored the 20th anniversary of the Americorps service program Friday. Kaine applauded the work of the volunteers, and spoke about the importance of putting others first during the annual Service and Volunteerism Conference in Richmond. Thousands across the nation took the pledge, at the same time, to continue helping others. "If you make your life about serving others, you'll always have something to do, and you'll always b...Continue Reading

When Rob Spilman thinks about the New College Institute, a cathedral comes to mind — and he’s not envisioning the state-of-the-art new building that NCI will dedicate today on the Baldwin Block. Spilman is thinking of NCI itself, the way it has evolved in the decade since local leaders began working to create it and the many ways he believes it can transform this community. “Someone once told me ... ‘Hey, when you’re involved in something like this (the creation of ...Continue Reading

The U.S. Constitution makes it clear: Only Congress can declare war on behalf of the American people. The president, of course, is the commander in chief of the military, with commanders reporting to the executive branch. But when it comes to committing the American people to war, only Congress — the people’s branch — can take that step. In the latter half of the 20th century, as conflicts morphed from country vs. country to regional hotspots and flare-ups and after the debacle...Continue Reading

• Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10 th) plans to introduce legislation authorizing the use of military force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as well as against al-Qaida, Boko Haran and similarly sinister groups. The Wolf bill also would call for close coordination among the U.S., NATO and regional allies. Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine is a keen scholar of war powers. He, too, favors congressional authorization. We stand with Wolf and Kaine. Presidential action authorized by Congress woul...Continue Reading

Eyeing middle school as prime territory for career exploration, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine is pitching legislation to get young secondary students career technical education. The proposal comes at a time when Roanoke education leaders say career tech is booming and nearing capacity. The Middle School Technical Education Program Act, or Middle STEP, aims to connect middle schoolers to potential careers and the skills they’ll need. The legislation would create a pilot program for schools to partner...Continue Reading

On the heels of a recess swing through Virginia that focused on career and technical education, including a stop at the Apprentice School, Sen. Tim Kaine today introduced a bill to set up a pilot program for middle school technical education. The aim is give middle school students a chance to see what career and technical education programs (the jargon is CTE) could offer. Kaine's idea is to link middle schools with colleges and businesses that offer CTE or apprenticeship or similar programs, ho...Continue Reading

The threat from the Islamic State feels enough like a threat of war to trigger what the Constitution says is Congress' task: to decide if it should tell the president to send American troops in harm's way, say members of the Hampton Roads delegation on Capitol Hill. President Barack Obama believes he doesn't need Congress to authorize the kind of military action he plans to launch against the Islamic State, sometimes called ISIS or ISIL. But key members of the Hampton Roads delegation believe th...Continue Reading

Ahead of President Obama’s national address tonight, Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine is urging the White House to come to Congress before extending its bombing campaign against the Islamic State. The president and most congressional leaders don’t want rank and file lawmakers to weigh in on the U-S response to the Islamic State. But when it comes to conducting more U-S airstrikes in Iraq and possibly Syria, Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine says even in the midst of campaign...Continue Reading

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, visited Naval Station Rota in Rota, Spain. Kaine is leading a Congressional delegation to North Africa and Spain, including Representatives Loretta Sanchez (CA), Congressmen Adam Schiff (CA), Albio Sires (NJ), Juan Vargas (CA) and Pedro Pierluisi (PR).??During the visit, the delegation observed a joint U.S.-Spanish militar...Continue Reading

GWEN IFILL: The U.S. military has been conducting limited airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq for four weeks, without congressional approval. New polls out today found a majority of Americans believe it’s time to ratchet up the assault. A survey by The Washington Post and ABC News reported 71 percent of those polled now support expanding airstrikes in Iraq. In addition, 65 percent back striking Islamic State bases inside Syria. A CNN survey showed similar results. The adminis...Continue Reading

One of President Obama's top congressional allies on Tuesday implored him to seek House and Senate approval for a prolonged military campaign against the Islamic State, and criticized lawmakers who don't agree that the issue should be debated with elections fast approaching. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who as Virginia governor was one of the first major Democratic elected officials to endorse Obama's 2008 for president, said he disagrees with the president, lawmakers and foreign policy experts who b...Continue Reading

What if I told you there is a way to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, help American businesses find customers abroad, and do it at no cost to the American taxpayer? It might sound too good to be true, but there is a little-known agency called the Export-Import Bank that is doing just that and turning a profit of billions of dollars each year. The Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank is one of the most important tools that U.S. companies have to boost exports to customers abroad who want high-quality ...Continue Reading

What if I told you there is a way to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, help American businesses find customers abroad and do it at no cost to the American taxpayer? It might sound too good to be true, but there is a little-known agency called the Export-Import Bank that is doing just that and turning a profit of billions of dollars each year. The Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank is one of the most important tools that U.S. companies have to boost exports to customers abroad who want high-quality p...Continue Reading