In The News

As a freshman senator, I came to Congress in 2013 as the new guy in town and was unsure of what to expect. Two years later, I’m proud of the work I’ve done for Virginia and eager to keep working across the aisle to tackle our nation’s challenges. In my first two years in office, Congress passed my legislation to improve the credentialing process for servicemembers, which will help ease their transition to civilian employment. My bill with Congressman Rob Wittman to protect Civi...Continue Reading

Politics and business intersected in a bigger-than-usual way last week when Sen. Tim Kaine (D) paid a visit to the Prince William Chamber of Commerce’s Northern Virginia Executive Forum. About 60 local business and political leaders were invited to the forum breakfast to hear Kaine speak on trade, infrastructure and politics. If Virginia is a battleground state, “Prince William is the battleground of the battleground,” Kaine said, highlighting the reason for his appearance. Kai...Continue Reading

In 1971, Ron Dellums did not seem to be a guy preparing to change the tide of American foreign policy. As a brand new member of the House from Oakland, California, Dellums had come to Washington as a bit of a rabble-rouser—Vice President Spiro Agnew had described him as “a dangerous radical” during his race for Congress. But when, as a freshman member of Congress, Dellums sat down with two camera company employees from the other side of the country, he began a quest that eventu...Continue Reading

Earlier this month, the 113th U.S. Congress — and my first two years in office — came to a close. As my team and I gear up for the start of the 114th Congress in 2015, I wanted to share some highlights of what we’ve been able to accomplish for Virginia over the past two years: Serving Virginians • Since I took office two years ago, my office has responded to nearly 400,000 pieces of correspondence and helped more than 3,000 Virginians tackle casework issues. This assistanc...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine said he is optimistic that Congress will pass a budget this year that reduces the effects of sequestration while containing the growth of the national debt. Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, addressed about 50 local business leaders Thursday morning at the Prince William Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Forum, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville. Kaine told the audience that when he was first appointed to the Senate Budget Committee, he wasn’t sure he...Continue Reading

U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner are getting down to business in the 114th Congress – and bipartisan business at that. Virginia's Democratic senators – now in the upper chamber's minority following the Republican thumping in last year's midterms – have been abuzz in the session's opening weeks, tacking their names to several GOP-backed proposals. First came legislation calling for biennial budgeting (S.150), something Kaine, Warner and other “regular order” a...Continue Reading

Both U.S. senators and all 11 representatives from Virginia signed a letter Wednesday expressing their support of the nation's 11 aircraft carrier fleet in advance of the release of the president's fiscal year 2016 budget proposal, expected in early February. Last year, the Navy talked of retiring the USS George Washington, which is due into Newport News Shipbuilding for its midlife overhaul and refueling in March 2017, if steep budget cuts returned in 2016. But in December, a spending bill incl...Continue Reading

Although the military is getting smaller, lawmakers representing Virginia say the nation's fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers - and the massive industry required to support them - should be exempt from defense cuts. All 13 members of the state's congressional delegation, including Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, have signed a letter reaffirming their support for maintaining an 11-carrier fleet. It's being sent to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today, more than a year after he warned that...Continue Reading

In tonight’s State of the Union, President Obama called for a congressional resolution authorizing his use of military force against the ISIS terrorist organization, which has seized control of large parts of Iraq and Syria. This is a step in the right direction, because US military intervention against ISIS amounts to a war that requires congressional authorization under the Constitution. A congressional AUMF might also prevent further violation of the War Powers Act of 1973, which requir...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Tuesday he is "concerned" that President Obama has not sent over a draft for a congressional authorization of the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). "I remain concerned that the White House hasn't sent a draft, although I did see, you know, the president's been saying he's going to do that," Kaine told The Hill. The senator said he hoped the president would address the issue in the State of the Union address Tuesday evening. "I'm very much expecti...Continue Reading

Battling Islamic radical groups is just part of “a range of tough challenges” the U.S. faces in the Middle East, Sen. Tim Kaine said Monday following the conclusion of a Congressional delegation to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Kaine, who is a member of both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Armed Services Committee, said the group spent four days in intense dialogue with leaders in the region, including both Israeli and Palestinian officials and representatives of mod...Continue Reading

I was deeply moved when the French Parliament, after observing a minute of silence for those slain in the Charlie Hebdo attacks, spontaneously broke into singing France's national anthem. It was the first time that had happened since 1918. The Parliament immediately got down to work, and despite party differences as sharp as those that exist in the United States, the French overwhelmingly approved an extension of France's participation in airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq by a vote of 488 to 1 (wi...Continue Reading

Timothy Michael Kaine, el senador demócrata, ha llevado una carrera profesional y vital enfocada en el servicio público y la política. Abogado —graduado de Harvard— con una impresionante hoja de servicio en el área de la asesoría legal gratuita en comunidades necesitadas. Fue concejal y alcalde de Richmond, la capital de Virginia, para llegar a vicegobernador, luego a gobernador del estado, a presidente del Comité Nacional Demócrata y ...Continue Reading

Nearly one-quarter of the U.S. Senate, including Virginia Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, want to see Congress enact a two-year budget and appropriations process. Chiefly sponsored by U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican from Georgia, the Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act introduced Tuesday would require the president to submit a two-year budget at the beginning of each new congressional session, according to a Senate aide. Members of Congress would then adopt a two-year budget re...Continue Reading

Projects to help restore the Chesapeake Bay will be getting more than $18 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, part of more than $370 million in competitive conservation grants awarded across the country. The projects include measures to restore wetlands and forested buffers to reduce nutrient overload in the bay and rewarding farmers for implementing higher-impact conservation practices. Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine praised Wednesday's announcement by U.S. Agriculture Se...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine will invite Lisa Barnett, coordinator for Career and Technical Education for Botetourt County Public Schools, as his guest to the President’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Kaine co-chairs the bipartisan Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus and has made improving CTE one of his top priorities in the Senate. He grew up working in his father’s ironworking shop and spent a year as a missionary in Honduras, where he worked as the principal of a sch...Continue Reading

With former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell heading to prison for two years, two former Virginia governors are calling for ethics reform in Richmond.  When McDonnell was charged with corruption for accepting gifts, like a head turning Rolex watch, many political watchers in Richmond figured he would escape punishment. That’s because the state’s ethics laws are some of the weakest in the nation, according to watchdog groups. But federal laws ultimately snagged McDonnell and his w...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine expressed optimism Tuesday after a meeting with VA Secretary Robert McDonald to discuss, among other issues, long wait times for patients at the Hampton VA Medical Center. In a news release, Kaine called the meeting "very positive" and said he was pleased with McDonald's performance since being named to succeed embattled former secretary Eric Shinseki. The senator said he also voiced concern over the backlog in adjudicating claims for disability benefits "and a culture at VA hospi...Continue Reading

Some of the most influential senators in the new Congress are neither in the majority nor among the longest-serving. They don’t show up on the Sunday-morning talk shows, and they aren’t talking about running for president in 2016. Instead, they’re a pack of Democrats from mostly smaller, rural states who are inclined to work with Republicans on legislation President Obama doesn’t support. They may even be willing to help the GOP override his vetoes. Some of them support b...Continue Reading

Two members of Virginia’s congressional delegation made headlines last week for legislation they introduced in the 114th Congress. They were U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. Their initiatives paint a stark contrast between meaningful legislation and utter political hokum. That’s something we all should keep our eyes on, because there’s too little of the former and way too much of the latter. We shall deal with Kaine’s proposal first. He’s a Democrat who...Continue Reading