In The News

WISE  —  Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, took turns being volunteers at the 14th annual Remote Area Medical (RAM) Health Expedition in Wise County on Saturday. The two members of Congress also announced $25,000 in funding toward a new mobile health care unit for The Health Wagon, Southwest Virginia’s charitable health organization that has been a vital partner for staging RAM events in Wise County since the first was held in 2000. Kaine and Griffit...Continue Reading

While people were getting their medical needs taken care of at the RAM Clinic Saturday, Senator Tim Kaine was making his rounds. Senator Kaine said the RAM Clinic puts things in perspective for him. He said we are the richest, most powerful country, yet thousands are without healthcare. People drive two counties, or even two states to sit and wait hours or days to get basic medical care. Senator Kaine said he is amazed by the amount of people that show up every year, but there is something that ...Continue Reading

The top senator on the panel that funds defense spending toured Newport News Shipbuilding Friday and urged Republicans to hash out a budget that could ease the pain of sequestration. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, was joined by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, on a three-hour tour of the nation's largest shipyard, the sole manufacturer of the nation's nuclear aircraft carriers and one of two makers of submarines. Immediately after the tour the senators held a press conference and called on a few GOP S...Continue Reading

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin toured Newport News Shipbuilding Friday and spoke with workers about the defense budget and its impact on workers. The Senators took a shipyard tour, which included visits in aircraft carrier and submarine construction facilities and a tour of aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford. The overhaul to Ford is about 62 percent complete. The ship's christening is scheduled for Nov. 9. Kaine, who serves on Senate Armed Services Committee, said the w...Continue Reading

Senator Tim Kaine is taking a page out of President Obama's playbook. He hosted his first social media town hall Wednesday afternoon, responding to constituent questions on Facebook and Twitter. Six months into his term as Virginia's Junior Senator, Kaine kept things interesting during his social media town hall.  Kaine answered questions on everything from the state of the economy and budget negotiations to immigration reform, and explained how he thinks lawmakers can cut through partisan ...Continue Reading

A group of U.S. senators urged the president Thursday to implement the Supreme Court's DOMA decision. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine joined 38 other senators from across the country in sending a letter to President Obama about the recent Defense of Marriage Act decision made by the Supreme Court. In the letter, the senators urged the president and his administration to quickly and thoroughly implement the decision to overturn the act restricting same-sex couples from a number of federal benefits. Pa...Continue Reading

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel put the ball in Congress' court this week when he released details of a defense budget "plan B" — how the Pentagon would manage billions of dollars in cuts if sequestration continues into fiscal 2014 and beyond. If sequestration continues next year, the Defense Department faces $52 billion in cuts next fiscal year. That could mean targeted reductions-in-force (RIFs) and severe cuts to operations and maintenance accounts, Chuck Hagel wrote in a July 10 letter t...Continue Reading

He's been a member of the U.S. Senate now for six months and Virginia's Sen. Tim Kaine will mark the occasion with his first Twitter and Facebook town hall. Kaine, a Democrat, will hold his town hall Wednesday, July 17 at 12 noon. Elected in November, Kaine, 55, will answer questions about his first months in the Senate and will look for feedback on the economy and job growth, immigration reform, measures to reduce gun violence and support for veterans. Constituents can view Kaine's voting recor...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine celebrated the Fourth of July by joining several other senators in a trip to the Middle East to visit American troops. Kaine (D-VA) along with Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), John Boozman (R-AR) and Deb Fischer (R-NE), spent the week visiting Afghanistan, Jordan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The group also visited Germany. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) joined them in Afghanistan on the Fourth of July. The purp...Continue Reading

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., on Monday cautioned against “shooting from the hip” and discontinuing U.S. economic and military aid after the uprising in Egypt that ousted Mohamed Morsi, the country’s Islamist president, with the help of the military. “We certainly heard from regional allies that they believe that would be a mistake, they made that loud and clear to us,” Kaine said Monday upon returning from a weeklong trip to Afghanistan, Jordan, Turkey, the United ...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine’s trip to the Middle East last week reinforced his concerns about how the U.S. treads in its treatment of the Syrian opposition and limited aid being provided to rebels there. Kaine and a small group of other senators spent several days in the Middle East, including two in Turkey and Jordan, which border Syria. Turkey has already taken in some 250,000 Syrian refugees, Kaine said, and talks with Turkish and Jordanian leaders were “pretty much Syria all the time.” ...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine., who just returned from a whirlwind trip to the Middle East and Germany, said the same defense cuts hitting Hampton Roads are eroding U.S. military strength in Europe, and it couldn't come at a worse time. Between July 1-6, Kaine, along with a contingent of U.S. senators, visited Afghanistan, Turkey, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Germany. The trip dovetailed with Kaine's duties on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. In Kabul, Afghanistan, he enjoyed an Ind...Continue Reading

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., is touring Afghanistan and visiting with Virginia troops there. Kaine celebrated the Fourth of July with the soldiers and also met with them to discuss the process of transitioning to civilian life. Kaine introduced legislation this year that would help veterans find work. His Troop Talent Act of 2013 is designed to ease the transition of military personnel from active duty to civilian life — an issue that many veterans in defense-heavy Virginia deal with as t...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine (D) took a tour of downtown Herndon Friday, June 28, visiting a variety of local businesses. Kaine, who was in the area to vote in favor of the immigration reform bill, didn’t have to look too hard to find an example of its local effect. During a visit to Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern, owner Jimmy Cirrito told Kaine about the events of the previous summer. In 2000, the tavern hired a woman with a work Visa, and over time she recommended hires to friends and relatives. &ldquo...Continue Reading

Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine practiced his Fourth of July speech a few days early in Richmond last weekend. He delivered brief remarks to the first ever LGBT Democrats’ breakfast the day of the State Democrats’ big Jefferson-Jackson dinner, addressed by Vice President Joe Biden, last Saturday. Kaine said it was an opportunity for him to rehearse his Independence Day message. The appropriateness of delivering a July 4 speech before that group last Saturday was self-evident to every...Continue Reading

Sen. Kaine spent a few hours Friday touring downtown and talking with small business owners. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) spent around three hours Friday touring downtown Herndon with Mayor Lisa Merkel, Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust and others. In particular, Kaine wanted to meet many of Herndon's small business owners. The morning started off with a visit to Old Town Hall. Then, Mayor Merkel took him on a walk around downtown, where they visited the businesses of Green Lizard Cycling, ...Continue Reading

Have your architects on standby: A major redevelopment opportunity in the heart of downtown Herndon is about to open up. Before her tour of the town Friday morning with Sen. Tim Kaine, Herndon Mayor Lisa Merkel told me that she will soon open up one-on-one discussions with firms that may interested in redeveloping 111,000 contiguous square feet of town-owned property, including 500 linear feet fronting the Washington & Old Dominion trail. This will not be a competitive RFP, Merkel said. The ...Continue Reading

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down part of a federal law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, more than 200 federal legislators, including three representing Hampton Roads, are calling for the repeal of the entire law. If approved, the legislation, called the Respect for Marriage Act, would mean gay couples legally married in one state would have their union honored for federal purposes, such as collecting Social Security, even if they moved to a state, such as Vi...Continue Reading

The Pilot recently editorialized on efforts to develop coastal energy off Virginia's shores, including bipartisan legislation we've proposed in the House and Senate. We'd like to address some of the concerns raised by this commentary. First, no one wants to see another Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) affect any Hampton Roads installations, and we've received no indication from the Pentagon that expanding the energy industry in Virginia would put Hampton Roads, or any other area of...Continue Reading

The U.S. Senate voted 68-32 today to pass an immigration reform bill that among other things will offer millions of undocumented immigrants a path to legal status. Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, joined the majority vote in favor of the legislation, which will also step up the enforcement resources to be sent to the nation’s southern border. “I was proud to vote today to reform our nation’s broken immigration system. The status quo is a burd...Continue Reading