Press Releases

WASHINGTON —Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) sent a letter to the White House recommending Patricia Tolliver Giles and Judge Rossie David Alston, Jr. to fill the vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District following the retirement of Judge Gerald Lee. Giles and Alston both were recommended by an independent panel of attorneys from across the Commonwealth selected by Sens. Warner and Kaine to interview qualified applicants. Giles is currently an ass...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement today on the electoral crisis in Honduras: “It is unfortunate that such an important democratic election in Honduras continues to be shrouded in uncertainty and confusion.  The Honduran people deserve an electoral process that is credible and transparent, and I trust the Organization of American States’ (OAS) assessment that this process has fail...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) to co-sponsor a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) repeal of net neutrality rules. Last week, the FCC gutted the 2015 Open Internet Order, which prohibits internet service providers from blocking, slowing down or speeding up internet traffic based on how much they get paid. The FCC’s ruling could stifle innovation and lea...Continue Reading

Bicameral legislators ask Devos to confirm or deny reports of Department walking back school discipline guidelines WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), both members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Congressman A. Donald McEachin (D-VA) joined 15 Senators and 36 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives in sending a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos asking her not to revoke or modify school...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) is co-sponsoring the Lead-Safe Housing for Kids Act of 2017, which would require the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to adopt prevention measures and update its lead regulations to protect children from the risk of lead exposure.  Since the enactment of federal lead policies in the 1990’s, lead poisoning rates have fallen dramatically.  However, lead poisoning risk continues to fall disproportionally on...Continue Reading

Wicker, Kaine, Lead Bipartisan Call, Citing Potential Savings for Taxpayers WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), were joined today by Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and 14 Senators in sending a letter to Department of Defense Secretary James Mattis expressing their support for the Pentagon’s pursuit to block buy two Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers in FY2019. “Committing to a block-buy for the newest generation of aircraft carriers would ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and 20 of their colleagues in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman (FCC) Ajit Pai urging him to delay the proposed vote tomorrow that would dismantle existing net neutrality rules until he specifically addresses the impacts on students and schools—specifically those in rural or low-income communities. Ka...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement after President Trump signed the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes numerous provisions he championed to benefit Virginia’s shipbuilding industry, defense community, servicemembers, and their families. Kaine helped write the legislation along with his colleagues on the Armed Services Committee, led by U.S. Senator John Mc...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) as a cosponsor of the Member and Employee Training and Oversight on Congress Act (ME TOO Act), introduced in response to recent sexual harassment allegations in Congress and revelations that the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) process places an unfair burden on victims. The bill would reform the CAA to eliminate the mandatory steps that must be exhausted before an employee of the ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement after the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) announced they will begin to notify families tomorrow who have one or more family members enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that they will lose coverage on January 31st if Congress does not pass a bipartisan CHIP reauthorization bill: “Today is a scary day for a lot of families in Virginia, and&n...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on Senator Al Franken’s decision to resign: “I told Senator Franken yesterday I believed he needed to step aside because the behavior described by multiple women is just wrong. Senator Franken made the right decision today, but the Senate has more work to do -- starting with releasing information about claims and settlements against Senators and their staffs, and fixing broken policies to foster s...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine sent a letter to the Senate Office of Compliance (OOC) this week requesting information on the number of sexual harassment claims filed against Senators, members of their personal staff, and committee staff, along with the amount of monetary settlements that were reached in harassment cases. In the letter, Kaine wrote that he will publicly release any information he receives to help determine the scope of the problem and develop solutions. Th...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, bipartisan members of the Virginia delegation led by U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Congressman Tom Garrett (VA-5) sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Eric Hargan asking him to extend the open enrollment period for consumers buying health insurance through the Affordable Care Act individual market in light of premium increases in Charlottesville and across Virginia. Earlier this year, the Trump Administration announced th...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement today following President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem: “Meaningful progress towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal has been stalled for years. While I hope that dynamic will change, I am very concerned that President Trump's announcement will f...Continue Reading

~ With deadline looming for McAuliffe to send letters to CHIP families, Warner & Kaine urge Senate leadership to protect health care for 128,000 Virginia children ~ WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) today urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to immediately pass bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides health care coverage for 128,000 children in Virginia, by including it in a...Continue Reading

~ Express concern over White House appointment of Mick Mulvaney as part-time acting CFPB director ~ WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined 44 Senators in a letter urging President Trump to follow the law and swiftly nominate a permanent director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) who will put working families ahead of Wall Street. In their letter, the senators cited the CFPB’s much-needed “aggressive enforcement and supervision,&...Continue Reading

Legislation would provide Customs and Protection the latest in chemical screening devices and scientific support to halt the flow of drugs into the United States  WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee joined a bipartisan bill to help halt the flow of illicit fentanyl from Mexico, China and other nations around the world into the United States. The International Narcotics Trafficking Emergency Response ...Continue Reading

~ Letter follows reports that “bots” may have filed hundreds of thousands of comments to FCC during net neutrality policymaking process ~ WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) urged Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to delay a planned December 14th vote to roll back net neutrality rules until an investigation can be completed into reports that internet “bots” – automated computer programs designed to pose as p...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement today on the situation in Honduras: “I am deeply concerned about the many irregularities, technical issues and disputes that have arisen in the aftermath of the November 26 elections in Honduras. It is critical to maintain calm and for the vote counting to be concluded in a fully transparent and credible manner, without interference.  I encourage all Ho...Continue Reading

Video: Kaine speaks about his middle-class tax relief amendment  WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on tonight’s partisan vote to pass the Republican tax bill: “For months, I’ve tried to convince Republicans to work with us on a tax reform bill that would actually put middle-class families and small businesses in Virginia first. Instead, they jammed through a bad bill that will raise taxes on millions of working Americans,...Continue Reading