In The News

El centro de análisis Diálogo Interamericano, presidido por Michael Shifter, otorgó al senador demócrata de Virginia, Timothy Kaine, un reconocimiento por su Servicio Público en las Américas. El senador Kaine recibió el premio de manos de Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty III, quien fungió como jefe de gabinete de la Casa Blanca durante el gobierno del presidente Bill Clinton. La entrega del reconocimiento tuvo lugar el 13 de noviembre e...Continue Reading

Virginia’s senators paid attention. The 2014 elections saw Republicans win control of the Senate and expand their majority in the House. Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine looked at the numbers and drew appropriate conclusions. Warner barely survived a race that was not expected to be close. His near-death experience focused his attention. Kaine, too, followed his home state’s returns with diligence. Last week, Senate Democrats kept Nevada’s Harry Reid as their leader. Warner ...Continue Reading

Robert McCartney, a Washington Post metro columnist, noted the symbolism. The Concert for Valor on Veterans Day saluted the Americans who did their duty when their nation called. The Capitol dome served as the backdrop for the solemn ceremony. The music outside the Capitol honored veterans, yet the men and women elected to serve inside the stately edifice have shirked their obligations. McCartney referred specifically to the congressional role in authorizing war. The campaign against the Islamic...Continue Reading

With Congress returning to Washington today, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine predicts the Senate soon will debate and likely vote on whether to authorize using American troops against the Islamic State terror group. Kaine and others in Congress have objected to President Barack Obama's use of airstrikes against the terrorist group, also known as ISIL, in Iraq and Syria without getting congressional approval. They argue only Congress has the constitutional authority to decide whether the U.S. can take offens...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is demanding a vote authorizing military force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria during the lame-duck session, calling it the “height of public immorality” to delay congressional approval. Congress should take up military authorization “right now in the lame duck,” said Kaine, who has emerged as one of the top Democratic critics of President Obama’s strategy, during a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Wednesday. “There&rsq...Continue Reading

A Virginia building tile company with a Danville factory is among those U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said could be hurt by new Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the senator said in a letter written last week. Columbia Flooring, the Danville branch of Mohawk Industries, manufactures hardwood flooring for the larger corporation. The plant, which employs about 300 workers, has plans to add 40 more sometime this year. During a tour of the plant last year, manager Bert Eades said the floori...Continue Reading

The Navy will be moving more than 500 jobs from Washington to Norfolk over the next five years, top officials announced Thursday. Navy representatives said all but a small group of the Navy’s Military Sealift Command staff will be relocating to the organization’s headquarters in Norfolk by 2019. The move will include 455 civilian employees, 30 active duty officers and 22 active duty enlisted positions. “Consolidation in Virginia will help us streamline all of our processes,&rdq...Continue Reading

The long slog to attract federal money for projects to prepare Hampton Roads for sea level rise has been punctuated by small advances. In June came the announcement of a two-year pilot project, with support from the White House, to study local adaptation to sea level rise. Then U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine organized a well-attended forum at Old Dominion University on the topic. Now, Kaine is reaching out to federal agencies to encourage them to support the effort. In a letter last week to 11 agencies, in...Continue Reading

United States Senator Tim Kaine, reflecting on his recent trip to India, said he not only saw new opportunities to foster US-India trade and economic ties under the Narendra Modi government, but also saw the necessity to ante up joint counter-terrorism cooperation. Kaine, chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, which has jurisdiction over matters pertaining to the Indian Subcontinent, was accompanied by Senator Angus King, an independe...Continue Reading

Last month, when a group of seven Girl Scouts from Hampton Roads met with Sen. Tim Kaine to talk about science, technology, engineering and math education they (and he) probably figured they were talking about a subject – career and technical education and girls’ access to it – particularly important to the senator, and to the girls. But they were, of course, also talking about something else: being engaged in civic and political life. Thinking of that, a new survey by the Girl...Continue Reading

Why is India important to the United States? My recent visit to India left me more convinced than ever that the growing partnership between the United States and India will be a leading force for security, democracy and prosperity in the 21st century. Since both countries signed the U.S-India civil nuclear deal, the relationship has grown by leaps and bounds. The breadth of our cooperation ranges from counterterrorism and cyber security, to space exploration and clean energy. But it is not just ...Continue Reading

GATE CITY, Va. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded the Scott County Telephone Cooperative with a $3 million grant to establish a broadband network in a section of Dickenson County, Virginia. On Wednesday, the USDA awarded $190.5 million in grants and loans to make broadband and other advanced communications infrastructure improvements in rural areas around the country, including in southwest Virginia. The Scott County Telephone Cooperative has received several multi-million do...Continue Reading

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., on Tuesday criticized Congress for its refusal to debate and vote on authorizing the use of military force against Islamic State militants before the Nov. 4 elections. “Why would we adjourn on the 18th of September, which is the second earliest recess before a midterm election since 1960, with a war underway that Virginians are serving in? Why would we adjourn without debating that?” Kaine said in a midday Public Square, hosted by the Richmond Times-Disp...Continue Reading

Five-months after the landslide election of Narendra Modi as India's prime minister, U.S. lawmakers are increasingly optimistic about prospects for more robust security cooperation and greater bilateral trade and investment. “Right after the Modi government came in, from afar I looked at it and saw this as a great opportunity for deeper economic integration  . . .  also military and security cooperation,” Sen Tim Kaine, D-Va., a member of both the Senate Armed Services and ...Continue Reading

Journalists occasionally joke that public figures “commit news.” On Tuesday Sen. Tim Kaine committed clarity and civility. The Virginia Democrat addressed The Times-Dispatch’s Public Square on war powers. He opened with a history of war-making; he spoke of the constitutional roles played by the president and the Congress. The Constitution identifies the president as the commander-in-chief and vests in Congress the power to declare war. Kaine explained that Congress has formally...Continue Reading

Nearly two years into his first term, Virginia’s junior senator, Timothy M. Kaine, has eased into his role as a leader on foreign relations and military affairs, a role that he did not necessarily seek when he ran for the office in 2012. “When I was a candidate, I certainly talked about our military as a huge talent pool that we need to take advantage of as people transition into civilian life,” Kaine said in an interview Friday. He had returned from his most recent trip to the...Continue Reading

The United States has not formally declared war since World War II. It has intervened militarily on numerous occasions, nevertheless. Americans have died in combat. The Constitution recognizes the president as commander-in-chief. It grants Congress the power to declare war. The situations since World War II have raised questions about the relationship between the executive and legislative branches regarding the defense of the realm. In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution, which has d...Continue Reading

AUGUSTA, Maine — Sens. Angus King and Tim Kaine are back in Washington after wrapping up a nine-day swing through the Middle East and south-central Asia with a visit to Qatar. The senators met Tuesday with Qatar’s prime minister and visited an air base that functions as the nerve center for the air campaign in Afghanistan and against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. At the base, the independent from Maine and Democrat from Virginia received a briefing from the deputy comman...Continue Reading

Throughout my life, I have witnessed the value of career and technical education. When I was growing up, my dad ran an ironworking shop where my mother, my brothers and I worked. During a good year, he employed seven welders and ironworkers. During a lean year, he employed five. As I watched them work, I learned to appreciate the tremendous craftsmanship and skill that went into ironworking. But at school, teachers and students often spoke about skills-based trades as if they were second-rate ca...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine has concluded a four-day trip India, during which he travelled with U.S. Sen. Angus King. He's moving on to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kaine chairs the Senate's Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs. Due to Shad Plank's noticeable lack of being India, we're just going to drop a couple paragraphs of Kaine's press release here: In New Delhi, the senators met with senior Indian defense and foreign affairs officials, including National ...Continue Reading