In The News

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the battle against the Islamic State group, members of Congress talk tough against extremism, but many want to run for cover when it comes to voting on new war powers to fight the militants, preferring to let the president own the battle. They might not be able to run for long. The U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Syria is creeping forward, putting more pressure on Congress to vote on a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force. It would be the first war vo...Continue Reading

President Obama's decision to send special operations ground forces into Syria is again prompting calls for specific authorization from Congress to wage war. RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: And President Obama's decision last week to order up 50 special operations forces to Syria has revived calls for Congress to weigh in on the war against the Islamic State. Obama himself has urged lawmakers to vote on giving him specific authority to wage that war. But the Republican-led Congress has resisted. As NPR's ...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Thursday prescribed an antidote to the increasing number of opioid overdoses and deaths — widespread dispensing of naloxone. Naloxone works nearly instantly to block the opioid receptors in the brain and counter the effects of heroin, fentanyl and narcotic painkillers. But it must be administered quickly. Kaine’s bill seeks to make it more available in homes and health settings. Kaine was among the first group of Virginians to be trained in August 2014 in h...Continue Reading

A group of 12 U.S. senators, led by Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., is calling for the Army inspector general to investigate the discharges of tens of thousands of service members diagnosed with mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries. The formal letter sent to top Army officials Eric Fanning and Gen. Mark A. Milley was motivated by last week's "Missed Treatment" investigation by NPR's Daniel Zwerdling and Colorado Public Radio's Michael...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine said Wednesday that President Obama still does not have a clear strategy for confronting the so-called Islamic State in Syria. Kaine, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a Virginia Democrat, also cautioned his party’s candidates not to prioritize issues like restrictions on gun ownership above improving the economy. “I don’t think any Democrat need to fear taking a position in favor of reasonable gun rules, like universal background record ...Continue Reading

Virginia's two U.S. senators are among the lawmakers spearheading a bipartisan effort to extend the life of a popular federal college student loan program for modest and low-income students. The Carl D. Perkins Loan Program has been around for decades, with more than 26 million students getting the $28 billion loans since 1958. They are offered at a 5 percent interest rate, with no origination fees and a nine-month grace period after graduation. In the most recent academic year, for example, mor...Continue Reading

Boots on the ground in Syria, combat in Iraq, and an expanding campaign against the Islamic State have thrust the issue of passing a congressional authorization for such military ventures back into the spotlight. But renewed interest in light of those new developments may still not be enough to spur Congress to take action. In recent weeks, congressional frustration has been rising with how the Obama administration has been handling the fight against ISIS in Iraq an...Continue Reading

Virginia employers want to hire people. They want workers who have completed post-secondary programs or who have earned certificates, licenses or other industry-recognized credentials. Community colleges are ready with curricula designed to train workers and deliver required credentials. Meanwhile, qualified, low-income people seeking skills simply can't afford the training they need to advance. Passing the JOBS Act would connect all three - and grow Virginia's economy. Jobs that require more th...Continue Reading

It’s hard for me to understand how some things become laws. Now granted, some of those are just antique laws that never went off the books, like how it’s illegal to tickle women in Virginia or my personal favorite, how it’s illegal to hunt any animals except a raccoon on Sundays. Clearly whoever designed that one had some pent-up rage against a raccoon or two getting into his trash. Other laws, or specifically other loopholes, which were created over the last 50 years, just mak...Continue Reading

U.S. SenatorTim Kaine is taking a stand on gun control, pushing for completing background checks on people who purchase firearms before the purchase is concluded. He introduced the Background Check Completion Act on Wednesday, which would close a loophole that allows a gun-dealer to complete the sale of a weapon to someone if the background check of that person takes more than 72 hours. Kaine says it's the type of loophole that lets people like the Virginia Tech shooter purchase a gun befor...Continue Reading

The new federal budget compromise represents a step forward for Hampton Roads, which relies on a predictable flow of defense spending, but it doesn't solve larger debates over taxes and spending, Virginia's two senators said Tuesday. Negotiators late Monday released a 144-page bill that broadly describes federal spending over the next two fiscal years. Its passage is expected, according to multiple media reports, but that is not the final step. Lawmakers on budget-writing committees will then us...Continue Reading

En el estado de Virginia hay 270 mil latinos que pueden ejercer su voto durante las elecciones, pero son pocos los que participan y de esa manera desperdician ese potencial que tienen, reconoció el senador Tim Kaine, durante un evento del Consejo de Líderes Latinos celebrado este lunes en Arlington, Virginia. “Todavía hay muchos latinos que no entienden el poder que representan sus votos, los que pueden hacer la diferencia en cualquier elección”, enfatiz&o...Continue Reading

Well before the tragic attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, the U.S. Department of State identified the need for a dedicated facility to provide enhanced security training to U.S. Embassy personnel assigned to high-threat posts overseas. The State Department was not alone in identifying this potential deficiency in its training protocols. In a 2011 report, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO)...Continue Reading

It's long past time, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine said Friday, for the United States to develop a new doctrine for engaging with the rest of world. After a 14-year war on terror that has spread the nation's military too thin, Kaine said the U.S. needs a more specific diplomatic and military strategy for dealing in different ways with the world's democracies, authoritarian regimes and non-state terrorist groups. President Barack Obama has been following a "reaction doctrine" of confronting terrorism and o...Continue Reading

Community leaders from across Hampton Roads have given Senator Tim Kaine several ideas for policy reform when it comes to helping felons re-enter society upon their release from prison. The meeting Friday at Up Center Books in Ghent was the second of Kaine’s two round table discussions on the topic, after a meeting Thursday with several ex-offenders in Richmond. Kaine heard the need for more emphasis and better resources for programs for ex-offenders that involve crucial needs and skills, ...Continue Reading

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, supports the president's recently announced decision to keep 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan through most of next year though it's yet another delay in the draw down of troops fighting in America's longest war that began less than a month after 9-11. "What’s important to stress here is that our mission is not going to change," said Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco Thursday. "We’ve got a mission now,...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine's concern about about the security of U.S. embassies around the world is based on more than the much documented killing of four Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya three years ago. The Virginia senator said U.S. embassies in both Yemen and Libya have also since been evacuated because of security threats. The need for a diplomatic security training facility is urgent, and Virginia's Fort Pickett in Blackstone has been identified as the best U.S. site for such a facil...Continue Reading

RICHMOND — Gov. Terry McAuliffesigned an executive order Thursday to ban guns in nearly all state office buildings and establish a joint task force to prosecute illegal gun sales in Virginia. The ban on guns in government buildings affects executive branch office buildings, which includes buildings throughout the state such as Department of Motor Vehicles locations and Virginia Employment Commission offices. The new restriction doesn’t apply to the Capitol building or General As...Continue Reading

The Nuclear Science Advisory Committee has recommended that the U.S. Department of Energy build an electron ion collider — a research tool of massive scale that could pave the way to new discoveries in physics. The project could bring a $1 billion construction project to Hampton Roads. The committee’s recommendation — announced Thursday in Washington as part of its long-range plan for nuclear science research in the U.S. — was considered a critical step toward the federal...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine has filed legislation to increase the number of people working as schoolteachers in career and technical education, a move he says is designed to reduce a nationwide shortage of teachers in those fields. The bill would allow recent college graduates, military veterans and career professionals in technical areas to apply for three-year grants to teach career and technical courses at high schools that are in need of such instructors. Though the federal government already h...Continue Reading