In The News

• The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), an affiliate of the College of William and Mary, meets a core state need. It promotes the health of the commonwealth’s waters and their impact on its shores. As Michael Martz reported this week, the institute has been studying the consequences of rising sea levels, which are affecting Virginia’s coastal communities. Declining budgets may damage the institute’s efforts to address the challenge of higher floods and tides. &b...Continue Reading

Virginia’s two senators are among five lawmakers urging a federal investigation into allegations that “aggressive debt collection actions” are being used by USA Discounters and similar retailers against active-duty service members. In a letter sent Tuesday to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the secretary of defense , Sens. Mark Warner and Tim ‍Kai‍‍ne, both Democrats, joined Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., in ...Continue Reading

We appreciate the opportunity to provide a more optimistic case for coastal energy exploration than was made in The Pilot's July 23 editorial. The benefits of advancing energy production are significant: It would diversify Hampton Roads' economy, provide revenue for our schools and roads, and lessen our dependence on foreign energy. And we are convinced it can be done in a manner that meets our shared obligation to protect our waters and shoreline. We share The Pilot's view that Virginia deserve...Continue Reading

Virginia's senators want Congress to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. Democrats Mark R. Warner and Timothy M. Kaine said in a press release that they were introducing legislation to reauthorize the bank, which finances the sale of American products to overseas markets. The bank's authorization expires Sept. 30. The Senate bill backed by Kaine and Warner would reauthorize the bank for five years and increase its spending authority to $160 billion from $140 billion over that period. In a speech...Continue Reading

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) to introduce the Domestic Violence Gun Homicide Prevention Act of 2014, legislation that would encourage states to remove firearms from domestic abusers. The senators presented their bill at a press conference where they were joined by Merry Jackson, whose daughter Lori Jackson was shot and killed this year by her estranged husband, who was under a temporary restraining order at the time. Kaine shared...Continue Reading

Virginia is a state where history can be found wherever you look. This is especially true in Petersburg, where the 1864 Siege of Petersburg left its mark on the Commonwealth and the nation. The siege went on for 292 days, bringing multiple changes of fortune for the Union and Confederacy over 108 separate battles and engagements. The Union's eventual victory at Petersburg paved the way for the surrender at Appomattox Court House. The fighting around Petersburg and Richmond was also significant f...Continue Reading

On the eve of the Silver Line’s maiden voyage, Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) sat down for a wide-ranging interview about Metro’s first new rail line since 1991. In the interview, Kaine discusses the region’s and Metro’s long-term challenges. In 2004, planners believed tolls on the Dulles Toll Road would cover 25 percent of the Silver Line’s cost. Today, drivers’ tolls are paying for half the rail project’s cost. The Silver Line is considered the anchor for t...Continue Reading

It used to be one of the most obscure federal agencies around, but these days, the Export-Import Bank of the United States is a bit of a political flashpoint: a job-generator from one point of view, a piece unnecessary corporate welfare from the other. Sen. Tim Kaine decided to weigh in on the issue on the Senate floor today as concretely as he could. Or maybe concrete isn't quite the word. Take a gander: "Let me tell about four companies, and they're very different companies: rockets, apples, c...Continue Reading

Tim Kaine, a Democrat who represents Virginia in the Senate, is on the warpath. Not against another country—but against America’s proclivity for launching wars without the assent of Congress. Kaine is not opposed to conflict and knows that America must defend itself from harm. But he also believes that it can be harmful to our traditions to ignore them. He reminds us that James Madison declared, “the constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that ...Continue Reading

With the opening of the Silver Line just days away, it’s easy to forget just how close it came to not happening at all. The federal money almost dried up. There was endless sparring over whether the tracks should run above ground or below — and how many buildings should be built around them. Officials in Maryland and the District, who have to foot part of bill for operating the new line, could have balked. Some Virginia legislators wanted to privatize the Dulles Toll Road — the...Continue Reading

U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner praised the proposal for new rail safety standards released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The senators had been calling on federal regulators to expedite development of the safety rules in the wake of the April 30 train derailment in downtown Lynchburg. The derailment, which upset 17 CSX cars carrying Bakken crude oil and punctured one, caused no injuries but sparked a large fire on the James River and became part of a national debate ov...Continue Reading

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia (PPAV) are overwhelming grateful Senators Kaine and Warner and their allies in the U.S. Senate for voting to protect women’s access to no-copay birth control no matter where they work. The Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act comes on the heels of the devastating and unpopular Supreme Court ruling in favor of arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby — giving bosses a legal right to deny their employees access to insurance cove...Continue Reading

WINCHESTER — Russia must be held responsible for last week’s downing of a civilian airliner over war-torn Ukraine, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10th, said Monday afternoon. He was joined in condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin by Virginia’s U.S. senators, Democrats Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. “Clearly, the Russians are to blame, the Russian separatists supported by the Russian government, and indirectly and sometimes directly, it’s Putin,” Wolf said of Malays...Continue Reading

ROANOKE (WSLS) - The Blue Ridge Parkway is a little cleaner after more than two dozen people volunteered to pick up trash Saturday. It was part of Citizens Day where people were working on service projects across the Commonwealth.  U.S. Senator Tim Kaine was there along with Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway. They picked up trash including a tire off the parkway. "We want to make sure the kids and grandkids can enjoy it and that means we go to take care to clean it up. Park service budgets ...Continue Reading

And speaking of Israel and Hamas, in a Friday statement Sen. Tim Kaine said what needed saying: “The escalating conflict between Hamas and Israel is deeply tragic and inflicts serious damage on the people in Israel and Gaza. Based on a cynical political calculation, Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, appears to be intentionally disrupting any chance for progress on peace discussions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  Hamas' decision to escalate rocket attacks on Isr...Continue Reading

Coastal Virginians don’t need us to educate them about sea-level rise and recurrent flooding. They see with their own eyes how often severe flooding occurs in their region and they know that the number and intensity of these floods has increased when comparing past decades to today. That’s why they are coming together in a bipartisan, locally driven effort to work on this issue as a unified Hampton Roads community. And that’s why we, as bipartisan members of Virginia’s co...Continue Reading

Friday U.S. Senator Tim Kaine hit Roanoke early with five stops on his calendar. His fourth stop that evening was at a reception at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture in Center in the Square. At one point Kaine when talking about how he became aware of his own segregated life and paused as his emotions got the better of him. Kaine praised Charles Price, Executive Director of the Harrison Museum. “Cultural institutions have been especially challenging in recent years … i...Continue Reading

SALEM, Va. - Drug abuse is a national problem that defies simple solutions, but a local program that became a model for the rest of the state is paying dividends almost 20 years after it started. The Drug Court of the 23rd Judicial Circuit was the first of its kind in Virginia, and it has been replicated across the state. Friday, 22 men and women picked up their diplomas to the applause of family members and supporters. "I've done a lot of graduation speeches," said U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, "but ...Continue Reading

About 20 entrepreneurs sat around the conference table at the Grandin CoLab on Friday, each sharing the trials and errors of starting their own business, as Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., sat at the head of the table listening intently. The senator stopped at the newly founded co-working space during his visit to Roanoke, where he got to see first-hand the increasing small business and young professional network in the valley. CoLab opened in March and now has more than 40 members who run businesses in ...Continue Reading

Fears that the aircraft carrier George Washington's overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding might be called off because of sequestration were laid to rest Tuesday with a key Senate panel's endorsement of $848 million for the project, according to Virginia lawmakers. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said credit for securing the funding goes to the state's 13-member congressional delegation. "It shows there's still a Virginia way in terms of the delegation working together," he said. The carrier f...Continue Reading