Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee joined HELP Ranking Member Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and nine colleagues on the HELP Committee in sending letters to Secretary DeVos at the Department of Education, Secretary Acosta at the Department of Labor and Secretary Azar at the Department of Health and Human Services, requesting information on their efforts to provide a safe workplace free of harassment. Each le...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner celebrated the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017 finally being signed into law, after decades of bipartisan efforts by Virginia’s elected officials. Kaine and Warner secured final passage of the bill earlier this month. Six Virginia tribes—the Chickahominy, the Eastern Chickahominy, the Upper Mattaponi, the Rappahannock, the Monacan, and the Nansemond—will now hav...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), and SFRC Ranking Member Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), led a group of Senators urging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to extend and re-designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syria which is due to expire in March. The Senators highlighted a travel advisory the State Department issued earlier this month declaring that ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine announced that his guest at Tuesday’s Presidential State of the Union Address will be Portsmouth, VA native, military spouse, and entrepreneur Lakesha Cole. Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Co-Chair of the Senate Military Family Caucus, and the proud father of a Marine, has made reducing military spouse unemployment one of his top priorities over the past year in the Senate. Last year, Kaine met with groups of mi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and 18 of their colleagues to introduce the Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act, which will hold health insurers accountable by ensuring they provide adequate mental health benefits as a part of health care coverage plans and increase transparency for consumers seeking coverage for mental illness and substance use disorders. Under current federal law, most insurance plans must provide mental hea...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) to reintroduce the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, a bill that would provide federal employees with a three percent pay increase in 2019. Since 2010, federal employees have lost more than a billion dollars in wages due to sequestration and a three-year freeze on federal pay. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) reintroduced this legislation in the House of Representatives as well...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today following Fairfax County Police’s release of video showing the U.S. Park Police shooting that resulted in the death of Fairfax County resident Bijan Ghaisar: “I am deeply troubled by the disturbing footage of repeated shots fired at Bijan Ghaisar by U.S. Park Police. My staff has met with Bijan’s family, and I am calling on the FBI to further investigate and provide details on the events sur...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine and Mark Warner praised the six-year reauthorization of Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that they helped secure as part of a bipartisan agreement this week. Today, the Northam Administration is sending letters to tens of thousands of Virginia families to inform them that they will continue to receive health care coverage through CHIP, after months of uncertainty due to inaction by Republican leadership in Congress. “For month...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Todd Young (R-IN), and John McCain (R-AZ) today introduced a bipartisan Senate resolution condemning the Burmese campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya and calling for the “safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return” of the refugees who have been displaced by this violence. The Senators were also joined by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Marco Rubi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner, a member of the Senate Finance and Budget Committees, and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Budget Committees, released this statement after voting for a bill that will end the shutdown and fund the government through February 8, following a bipartisan agreement to address critical national security and domestic priorities: “We voted against the House Republican Continuing Resolution on Friday night because it left unaddr...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tonight, U.S. Senators Mark Warner, a member of the Senate Finance and Budget Committees, and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Budget Committees, released the following statement: “A year after Donald Trump became President, he and Republican leaders in Congress have delivered the shutdown he’s been calling for. Those who will suffer the most from his actions are federal employees and DoD personnel in Virginia who have already been hurt a...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke asking him to add public meetings in Virginia Beach and on the Eastern Shore to give local residents the opportunity to share their opinions on the Trump Administration’s offshore drilling proposal. These two areas, which would be directly impacted by this decision, are not currently included on the list of 23 locations where the Department has announced in-person public ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, released the following statement following Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s announcement that the Trump Administration will keep U.S. military forces in Syria for objectives beyond countering ISIS: “I am deeply alarmed that yet again, the Trump Administration continues to raise the risk of unnecessary war, disconnected from any firm policy objectives and core nat...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner, a member of the Senate Finance and Budget Committees, and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Budget Committees, released the following statement opposing the one-month Continuing Resolution scheduled for a vote in the House today, which would perpetuate budgetary dysfunction and uncertainty for Virginia and the nation: “We oppose the House Continuing Resolution, which punts budget discussions until mid-February. C...Continue Reading

~ Forty senators urge congressional leaders to reject political interference at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ~ WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Sen. Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined a group of 40 Senate Democrats in standing up for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence and power to obtain justice for consumers who have been wronged by large financial institutions. In a letter toda...Continue Reading

~ Senators say decision to end TPS status will “uproot thousands of well-established lives” and “devastate families and communities” ~ WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined a group of 27 Senate Democrats in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Nielsen urging DHS to reverse its decision to end Temporary Protection Status (TPS) designation for El Salvador. Earlier this week, DHS announced it ...Continue Reading

Legislators: You said “’Local voice matters.’ We couldn’t agree more.” WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and U.S. Representatives Donald McEachin, Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer, and Bobby Scott sent a letter to the Trump Administration requesting that Virginia be exempted from its offshore drilling proposal, citing local concerns over the risks to tourism, the watermen’s industry, and the country’s Naval operations. The...Continue Reading

PHOTOS: Virginia Tribal Chiefs Joined Kaine and Warner in Senate Chamber for final vote  VIDEO: Moments Before Passage, Kaine and Warner Spoke on Senate FloorB-ROLL AND INTERVIEWS: Chairman Wayne Atkins and Chief Stephen Atkins Speak on Camera WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner secured final passage of the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017. Once signed by the President, the legislation will grant federal recogn...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. –In the wake of the Trump Administration’s decision yesterday, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine co-sponsored the Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and in Emergency (SECURE) Act to protect people who were displaced by dangerous conditions in their home country and came to live in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Kaine spoke out this week against the Trump Administration’s decision to end TPS for Salvadoran immigrants displaced by na...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced $350,000 in federal funds towards the development and implementation of a comprehensive economic development strategy for rural communities across Virginia. The funds will be awarded to planning district commissions in Accomack County, Smyth County, Russell County, Scott County, and Augusta County. The funding will be used to establish an economic development planning framework, process, and strategy that supports priv...Continue Reading