In The News

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a practicing Catholic and former missionary, had a clear message Wednesday for Pope Francis: Allow women to become priests. Kaine said ending the church's centuries-old rule that only men can be ordained would be the most significant thing the pope could do. "If women are not accorded equal place in the leadership of the Catholic Church and the other great world religions, they will always be treated as inferiors in earthly matters as well," Kaine said in a statement. "There...Continue Reading

When Pope Francis stands before Congress on Thursday, he will not only be addressing the world's most powerful legislature, but he will also be addressing 165 members of his church flock. Nearly one-third of Congress is Catholic, and they are almost evenly divided between Republicans (82) and Democrats (83). But that shared faith has not meant much in the way of common political ground, with Catholic lawmakers split along much the same partisan and ideological lines as the public at la...Continue Reading

Traffic on Interstate 95 — the subject of an Aug. 23 editorial — is all-too-familiar to me as a U.S. senator, a former governor, and as an I–95 commuter who lives in Richmond and works in D.C. Northern Virginia’s rapid growth is good because it means the corridor has jobs and economic development, but it also means populations are growing faster than infrastructure can handle them. Last month, a U.S. Department of Transportation report found that traffic costs ...Continue Reading

Esta semana, Estados Unidos recibe al Papa Francisco en Washington, Nueva York y Filadelfia. Entre toda la emoción y la ansiedad por lo que dirá en su discurso, una cosa ya quedó clara. Él llega a una iglesia y un pueblo estadounidense que están siendo rejuvenecidas por nuestra población hispana. La primera visita a los Estados Unidos del primer papa latinoamericano coincide con otro evento importante: el 450º aniversario de la f...Continue Reading

With an international bike race as a backdrop, Richmond celebrated another milestone Wednesday with the grand opening of Gateway Plaza, the city’s first new downtown Richmond office tower in two decades.A bevy of elected officials, led by U. S. Sen. Tim Kaine, offered congratulations to the city, the law firm of McGuireWoods LLP and the developer, Chicago-based Clayco, who worked together to build the 18-story, glass-walled skyscraper.  More than 200 people turned out for the ribbon-c...Continue Reading

This week, America welcomes Pope Francis to Washington, New York and Philadelphia. Amid all the excitement and anxiety over what he will say, one thing is clear already. He arrives to a church and American population that are being rejuvenated by our Hispanic population. The first Latin American pope’s first visit to the United States coincides with another important event: the 450th anniversary of the founding of Saint Augustine, Fla. Forty-two years before Jamestown and 55 years before P...Continue Reading

Flowers, candles and cards were placed at the statue of Bob Simon at Lake Anne Plaza to honor the Reston founder who passed away yesterday. Simon died peacefully at his home in Reston. He was 101. An outpouring of support and condolences flooded RestonNow comments, Twitter and Facebook, with news of his passing picked up on Facebook’s national trends. Multiple people stopped by his statue on Tuesday morning to take pictures of the statue, say their goodbyes and share me...Continue Reading

Help is on the way. For the Harrisonburg Police Department, that help will come in the form of a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, according to a press release announcing the grant Monday afternoon from the offices of Virginia’s two U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. The grant comes from the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services grants, which are meant to fund law enforcement jobs and expand community policing and crime prevention initiati...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced Monday that Virginia will receive $875,000 in U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services grants to fund law enforcement jobs and expand community policing and crime prevention initiatives. The City of Bristol will be awarded $375,000 to fund three officers and the Harrisonburg Police Department will be awarded $500,000 to fund four officers, according to a written statement. “We’re v...Continue Reading

More of a historic powerhouse than an economic or political one, St. Augustine has a good bit of the world’s attention on all those fronts this week with a royal visit and as host of the U.S.-Spain Council. With St. Augustine celebrating its 450th year as a European-settled city, King Felipe VI of Spain made the city part of his first official visit as king to the United States. For the same reason — and to include the king — the honorary chairman of the U.S.-Spain Council, Sen...Continue Reading

A growing number of Democratic lawmakers are openly questioning whether toppling Syria's Bashar al-Assad should still be a priority amid steady gains by the Islamic State. The issue came to a head Sept. 16 as a key Senate panel held its first IS hearing since the first batch of 54 US-trained rebels was routed in late July by al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra as soon as it entered Syria. Reports that Russia is beefing up Assad's forces with tanks, troops and artillery has only a...Continue Reading

U.S. Senators Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., co-sponsored legislation Wednesday that would make Navy veterans who served off the Vietnam shore during the war there eligible for care for Agent Orange exposure. If passed, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act would clarify an existing law so that these "Blue Water" veterans would be fully covered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs if they served within 12 miles of shore, according to a joint statement released by the senators...Continue Reading

Three years after the Benghazi attack, the Obama administration and Republicans in Congress still haven't agreed on where to build a consolidated Diplomatic Security training center that both say is critical for protecting American embassies and consulates around the world. The question has prompted an increasingly nasty congressional turf battle, though a government audit circulated last week could help settle the case for a National Guard base in southern Virginia over a Federal Law Enforcemen...Continue Reading

The president's task force on seafood fraud recommended some fixes earlier this year to prevent the sale of fake Chesapeake blue crab — but those fixes don't go far enough, Virginia lawmakers say. So on Tuesday, U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner joined with U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, to urge President Barack Obama to take a more comprehensive "bait to plate" approach and track crab meat all the way from the source to the consumer. Doing so, the lawmakers said, would protect ...Continue Reading

CAPITOL HILL— U.S. senators of both major political parties tell VOA the United States must help address Syria’s humanitarian crisis and the massive outpouring of migrants from the war-ravaged country. “As a nation we bear some responsibility for what’s happening,” said Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The Europeans have been very good in stepping up, but we are going to have to also,” said ...Continue Reading

The Iran deal rose and fell in Congress on some longstanding divisions — but the debate also showcased some new, influential foreign policy voices emerging in both parties. Particularly in the Senate, the deal challenged lawmakers to devise a process for Congress to decide whether the agreement should be implemented through a rare and unorthodox resolution of disapproval vote. The two-month review process also gave lawmakers a chance to influence not only how their colleagues wou...Continue Reading

Congress will likely pass a short-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government and avert a shutdown while it works on a larger budget deal. That's according to U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va, who spoke at a banking breakfast hosted by the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce Friday. Kaine said he believes Congress will not reach a funding deal by the end of September — the end of the federal fiscal year — and will instead pass a resolution to fund the governm...Continue Reading

A Democratic senator is demanding answers from the Obama administration on the expanding scope of the war with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the legal underpinnings of its plans to defend Syrian rebels from attacks, which could bring the U.S. into war with other groups.   "I understand your Administration is considering revising the existing Rules of Engagement (ROE) to explicitly allow for the defense of U.S.-trained Syrian fighters against attacks," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine has co-sponsored legislation that would encourage companies to hire trained apprentices, citing Newport News Shipbuilding as an example of how to train workers for high-demand technical jobs. Kaine, the son of a Kansas ironworker, has touted the skilled trades as one way to boost the U.S. economy and the fortunes of those who don't desire or can't afford a four-year college degree. He is co-chairman of a Senate caucus on career and technical education. He joined three senators in...Continue Reading

Sometimes it’s not about preventing the next crime. It’s not about the big headlines or major arrests. Sometimes, changing a law just makes sense. It’s hard to argue that there’s a better example than Sen. Tim Kaine’s new bill, the Responsible Transfer of Firearms Act. Understandably, if you sell a gun to someone who isn’t allowed to have one under federal law, that’s frowned on. Even so, there’s usually no penalty attached. If your friend gets out...Continue Reading