In The News

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined thirteen of his Senate colleagues Tuesday to introduce the Restoring Veterans’ Trust Act of 2014; legislation to correct underlying problems in access to medical care at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “This legislation is an important step toward restoring the confidence of our veterans and the American public,” said Kaine. “By providing the VA with direct hire ...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine visited the Fredericksburg area Monday to take in two important learning opportunities: a new Asymmetric Warfare Training Center at Fort A.P. Hill and a dual-enrollment program for high school students at Germanna Community College. Lt. Col. Pete Dargle, the commander of the Army post in Caroline County, led a tour for Kaine and members of the Military Affairs Council of the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce. The $96 million Asymmetric Warfare Training Center, which opened i...Continue Reading

A “critical” step in developing a major new marine terminal was realized Thursday when U.S. senators voted to transfer land at Portsmouth’s Craney Island to the state, Virginia Port Authority’s CEO and executive director says. Language contained in the Water Resources Development Act transfers 320 acres for the 512-acre project’s first phase; the state already owns the balance, according to the authority. “Having the ownership of the land transferred to the co...Continue Reading

Lawmakers serving the region are taking renewed and necessary steps to promote clean coal technology. At the same they are correctly voicing opposition to the new and unprecedented emission rules the Obama administration is expected to roll out early next month that will directly impact coal-fired power plants. In addition to killing good-paying jobs and harming the economies of coal-producing states, the new EPA rules — due out possibly as early as June 2 — also are expected to caus...Continue Reading

This year, the old guard is placing six to seven thousand more graveside flags this memorial day than last year. "It's sad you know," cemetery visitor Rob Monson says, "It makes you feel privileged to have that many people that would sacrifice themselves for this country." Space in the famous cemetery is running out, and after ten years of back and forth discourse, a historic "land swap" will be brokered by congress. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia says, "this has been a complicated project but we...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has signed as a co-sponsor of legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate designed to boost large scale federal and private sector investment to develop "clean coal" technologies. Kaine said he is a co-sponsor of the Advanced Clean Coal Technology Investment in Our Nation (ACCTION) bill "because it recognizes that the solution to our energy and climate challenges is American innovation. Coal is a reliable and abundant fuel source, yet one which gener...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine joined up with Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., to introduce legislation creating a tax credit of up to $1,000 a year to help foster families cover the cost of caring for a foster child. "Caring for foster children can be more expensive than caring for one’s own biological children because foster children have often been through traumatic physical and emotional circumstances that require additional care and resources to address," Kaine said. While governor, Kaine and his wife An...Continue Reading

A 36-year-old District of Columbia man, working in his spare time, is helping to lead a quiet grass-roots campaign that has had surprising success building support in the U.S. Senate for a bill that would make the District the 51st state. Shoe-leather lobbying by Josh Burch’s group, Neighbors United for D.C. Statehood, has played a key role in raising to 17 the number of senators jointly sponsoring a bill that would create New Columbia. Most of the Senate Democratic leadership, led by Majo...Continue Reading

A U.S. Senate committee and the House on Thursday endorsed separate defense spending plans for 2015 that both fund the refueling of the aircraft carrier George Washington at Newport News Shipbuilding and reject Pentagon requests to cut subsidies for commissaries and trim some health care benefits. Defense policy bills approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House also turn down the Pentagon's request for base closings. But the two chambers disagree on military pay. The senate pan...Continue Reading

Work critical to Newport News Shipbuilding's nearly 24,000 workers, and the thousands more on the Peninsula whose jobs depend on the yard, passed through two key Capitol Hill gateways Thursday, as both the full House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee approved a complex overhaul and refueling of the USS George Washington. The overhaul is at risk if Congress doesn't formally approve, since across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to go into effect next year likely mean the...Continue Reading

The new Water Resources Development Act, which the U.S. Senate sent on its way today for President Obama to sign, includes amendments by Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine meant to keep two Hampton Roads water projects on track. One authorizes funds for Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration projects, the other moves the port's Craney Island expansion forward. The oyster restoration amendment authorizes $60 million for the work, a compromise between what the House of Reprensentatives and Senate wante...Continue Reading

A group of 14 senators introduced a bill on Tuesday that would effectively place a two-year moratorium on so-called inversions, halting the rush by United States corporations to reincorporate overseas to lower their tax bills. The Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2014 would essentially disallow any more inversions for two years, giving Congress time to pursue broad changes in the corporate tax code. Such an overhaul could make the United States rates more competitive with other countries, possib...Continue Reading

BEST LOCAL POLITICIAN: U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine SECOND PLACE: U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor THIRD PLACE: delegate Jennifer McClellan The eyebrows. That smile. Those soft, understanding eyes. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, former Richmond mayor and Virginia governor, seems to make the city swoon. Heck, for his official gubernatorial portrait in the Capitol, he shed the suit jacket, leaned against a tree and basked in the soft light down on a river bank. He also represents Virginia in a way that makes progressive types ...Continue Reading

"There has been a longstanding desire to expand the cemetery so that it can be, for generations to come, the place that it is now and offering that opportunity to those who have served and lost their lives..." Sen. Tim Kaine expressed support Tuesday for expansion of Arlington Cemetery. During the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) markup Tuesday in the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, Kaine expressed his support for an NDAA provisio...Continue Reading

It was “a sweet moment,” U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine said, delivering the commencement address Saturday for the first graduating class of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Sweet, indeed, for the 40 graduates, all with residencies safely secured, commencing new lives as resident doctors. Sweet, surely, for two of the region’s visionary leaders — Virginia Tech President Charles Steger, who is retiring next month, and Dr. Ed Murphy, at the time the CEO of Carilion Clini...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine is introducing legislation today intended to help service members pay for occupational credentials or licenses they would need for civilian jobs after they leave the military. The bill is intended to work in tandem with a measure that the Virginia Democrat successfully proposed last year to help service members use skills learned in the military to qualify for civilian jobs that do not require college degrees. The legislation introduced this week would allow service members t...Continue Reading

Turning military training into a credential for a civilian job isn’t as easy as it ought to be, in Sen. Tim Kaine’s view, and he’s introduced a bill to smooth the path, by authorizing use of the military’s Tuition Assistance Program to pay for testing fees, testing material and licensing fees. “While some servicemembers transition out of the military and decide to pursue a degree at a college or university, countless others are ready to immediately enter the workfor...Continue Reading

The defense industry in Hampton Roads - jittery about big reductions in military spending - likes what it sees in Congress's first attempt to draft a defense spending plan for 2015. Rank-and-file sailors probably do, too. The proposal approved by a House committee last week would keep intact most major purchase contracts and calls for bigger pay raises, in contrast to what the Pentagon wants. But it would do it at the expense of training and operations for active-duty commands. The congressional...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday backed bipartisan efforts to reexamine the controversial law passed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that opened the door to the ever-expanding “war on terror.” Although Reid did not take a specific stand on how the law should be changed, in an interview with BuzzFeed he argued the time has come to revisit the Authorization of Use of Military Force. “It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, bu...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine may be one of the Silver Line's biggest fans, and he's not letting the delays in Phase One of the nearly $6 billion project dampen his feelings. "This is the most complex single project I've ever been connected with in my 20 years in elected office," said Kaine, who worked to fund the first stretch as Virginia governor. "It is so big and complicated, there's going to be challenges." In the end, he believes the construction and the wait will all be worth it. "The experience of Metr...Continue Reading