In The News

The Metro Silver Line had at least one new passenger Tuesday morning: Former Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator Tim Kaine. Fresh off his unsuccessful vice presidency bid, the senator boarded a train at the Tysons Corner station around 9:00 a.m. and got off at the Wiehle-Reston East station about 20 minutes later, occasionally pausing on the platform to greet, shake hands and even take a selfie with surprised constituents. Of course, Kaine wasn’t riding Metro just on a whim. He was on a sch...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine is making a push to have high-speed rail lines travel through Richmond. Sen. Kaine gave us a hard hat tour of he newly renovated Main Street Train Shed.  You can't miss the massive glass building along I-95. That renovated structure is part of a big effort to bring high speed rail service to the metro and beyond.  "This will be a transportation hub for road, for rail, and for commuters," said Sen. Kaine. "And what we are trying to do... basically is in the Northeast...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) may not have been around the region much in the past few months, but he still knows a little something about what it’s been like for his constituents suffering through SafeTrack since the summer. “Northern Virginians are the savviest commuters on the planet,” Kaine said, sitting near the back of a bus zooming west on Interstate 66. When faced with scheduled disruptions, like the seven Metro maintenance “surges” that have struck Virginia since ...Continue Reading

ONLY CONGRESS has the power to declare war. It’s explicitly written in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” And if that’s not clear enough, a few sentences later in the enumeration of Congress’s power...Continue Reading

A landmark health care and medical research bill, the 21st Century Cures Act, is heading to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature after overwhelming approval from both chambers of Congress. The Senate passed the measure 94-5 on Wednesday, while the House approved on a 392-26 vote last week.All of Loudoun County's federal lawmakers – Sen. Mark Warner (D), Sen. Tim Kaine (D) and U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) – voted in favor of the proposal, which aims to speed up the Food a...Continue Reading

Jonathan Ferrara is a modern art gallery owner driven by an old-fashioned idea: He wants the pieces he has gathered at his gallery in New Orleans to hold a mirror up to society and reflect an issue that has become a touchy one for Americans. He wants Americans to see our relationship with guns for what it is. His traveling art installation of modern sculptures, photographs, paintings, video and mixed media uses more than 180 decommissioned guns, mostly bought through the New Orleans ...Continue Reading

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, recently renewed his call in the halls of Congress for legislative approval of the ongoing U.S. war against the Islamic State. In doing so, the onetime vice presidential candidate who is a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee mentioned the death on Thanksgiving Day in Syria of Naval Chief Petty Officer Scott Dayton, a Virginian. Dayton, 42, of Woodbridge, was a bomb specialist who died in a improvised explosive device blast, be...Continue Reading

Virginia lawmakers say Congress’s plan to continue funding the government at current levels will stall the construction of aircraft carriers in Norfolk, threatening jobs and putting national security at risk. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) last week urged Republican leaders to approve $500 million in new spending to keep fabrication of parts for the USS Enterprise on track at Newport News Shipbuilding. The Norfolk-area company is the sole designer and builder of ai...Continue Reading

On Tuesday, Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine asked the chair and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense to protect funding for the Carrier Replacement Program during the Fiscal Year 2017 appropriations process. If a defense bill is not passed — which is probable — the Department of Defense will be funded temporarily via a Continuing Resolution. If that happens, the advance procurement funding for the program will continue at Fiscal Year 2016 level...Continue Reading

After cooling off in the movie theater this summer, take your kids to the park to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. For 100 years, parks have stimulated local economies and protected wild environments. In 2015, national park visitors contributed nearly $16.9 billion in spending during visits to parks throughout the U.S. Unfortunately, our parks are still underfunded and undervalued by the government each year. As well some of our national park treasures like the Grand...Continue Reading

Congressional representatives from Virginia and the District of Columbia yesterday announced that the National Park Service, jointly with the District Department of Transportation, has been awarded a $90 million FASTLANE Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for repairs to Arlington Memorial Bridge, which carries 68,000 vehicles daily. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Reps. Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly and Barbara Comstock jointly issued the follow...Continue Reading

The federal government awarded a $90 million grant to the National Park Service's efforts to repair the Arlington Memorial Bridge, local lawmakers announced Tuesday. The grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation is only a fraction of the $250 million needed to keep the bridge open to the 68,000 cars that drive on it every day. Lawmakers previously asked Congress to fund up to $150 million of the repairs, according to WTOP. "While additional funding resources will be needed to complete thi...Continue Reading

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Funding is now in place to replace the Deep Creek Bridge in Chesapeake. The two-lane drawbridge over the Dismal Swamp Canal was built in 1934. It was declared functionally obsolete in 1996, meaning certain travel restrictions are in place regarding the types of vehicles that can cross over it. On average, 27,000 vehicles cross over the Deep Creek Bridge daily. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is administering the project to replace the bridge, improving it to a five-lane drawbr...Continue Reading

RICHMOND, Va. — U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced Thursday that Virginia will receive federal preparedness grants worth more than $18 million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. About $2.4 million will go towards a Port Security Grant program. The grants will help combat terrorism and respond to other disasters and emergencies. The funding was made available through FEMA. FEMA also allocated over $53 million to the National Capital Region, which include...Continue Reading

Two historically African-American cemeteries along the Richmond-Henrico County line have been approved for funding to help protect them. The Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s board of trustees on Thursday approved the allocation of $400,000 from its preservation trust fund for 76 acres consisting of the East End and Evergreen cemeteries, which have fallen into disrepair. The foundation uses a mix of public and private money to protect more than 750,000 acres across the state. “We&rsquo...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON (NEWSPLEX) -- Four members of the U.S. Senate have introduced legislation to help students make smarter decisions when it comes to financing higher education. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both of Virginia, along with Dean Heller of Nevada and Cory Gardner of Colorado say the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act would promote financial literacy with comprehensive counseling services for those who get federal financial aid. "In January, Senator Kaine and I ...Continue Reading

Nearly $600,000 from the federal government has been released for construction of the Lynchburg Regional Airport’s new control tower, slated to be finished by the end of the year. Built in 1963, the existing tower is in need of replacement. According to Lynchburg Regional Airport Director Mark Courtney, the tower has outlived its usefulness. “With the combination of airline service, flight training and business jets coming in and out, the modern tower is essential to our mission and ...Continue Reading

Arlington’s elected officials are speaking out in favor of today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on abortion. Rep. Don Beyer, County Board member Katie Kristol and U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — all Democrats — today praised the Supreme Court’s 5-3 decision to strike down a Texas law that greatly restricted abortion providers there. Beyer called the decision a victory for “common sense and justice for women” in a statement: Common...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators, including Tim Kaine (D-Va.), announced a proposal to help keep guns from terrorists The bipartisan announcement is a measure that would prevent people who are on no-fly lists from buying guns. The senators mentioned Tuesday that the measure would have an element of due-process — a check to prevent innocent people from being put on watch lists. The announcement comes one day after Congress rejected proposals to keep guns out of e...Continue Reading

A group of nine senators on Tuesday unveiled a bipartisan compromise aimed at keeping guns out of terrorists' hands in the wake of the June 12 Orlando shooting. The legislation spearheaded by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, would prohibit people on the government's no-fly list and the government's selectee list used for extensive screening at airports from purchasing a gun. The bill would allow U.S. citizens and green-card holders to appeal a decision blocking his or her purchase of a firearm, and ...Continue Reading