Press Releases

VIDEO OF FLOOR SPEECH AVAILABLE HERE WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine delivered a speech on the Senate floor to highlight the devastating impacts a government shutdown would have on Virginians. He shared stories he received from Virginians in Orange, Norfolk, Harrisonburg, Fredericksburg, Glen Allen, Williamsburg, Centreville, Virginia Beach, and Falls Church about how a shutdown would impact their families. Kaine has received more than 600 letters from Virginians who are worried...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, introduced the Modernizing the Federal Calendar Act, legislation to reduce the use of harmful stopgap spending bills and shutdowns by changing the annual government funding deadline from October 1 to January 1, to better align with when Congress actually passes year-long funding bills. “During my time in the Senate, Congress has never passed year-long government funding by the October 1 deadline and instea...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, announced $10,000,000 in federal funding to expand access to job training in the Richmond and Hampton Roads regions. The funding was awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration’s Building Pathways to Infrastructure Jobs Grant Program, which provides funding for public-private partnerships to develop and implemen...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, with three days remaining until the government funding deadline, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine issued the following statement on the need to fund the government and protect nearly seven million women and children, including 127,124 in Virginia, who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): “A government shutdown not only impacts those near Washington, D.C. It has real, tangible consequences for millions of pe...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $700,000 in federal funding for the Hurley Waterline Extension Project. The funding, courtesy of the Appalachian Regional Commission, will be awarded to the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors for the Hurley Waterline Extension Project, improving water access to 97 households in the area. “For too long members of the Hurley community have relied on private wells, hauling their own water, or purchasing bot...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, with four days remaining until the government funding deadline, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine issued the following statement on the need to fund the government and prevent 1.3 million servicemembers nationwide from being forced to work without pay: “In just four days, the U.S. government will run out of funding, triggering an entirely preventable government shutdown that will have disastrous consequences on large swaths of Americans, including federal worke...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) introduced legislation to close gaps in chronic pain research and help scientists propel chronic pain research forward. The Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act would centralize current information and data to help clinicians and scientists more effectively research chronic pain conditions plaguing many Americans. “Too many Americans, especially older adults, are living...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced $10,376,672 in federal funding to make infrastructure improvements in support of operations and resiliency efforts at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach and Naval Station Norfolk. The funding was awarded through the Defense Community Infrastructure Pilot (DCIP) Program, which helps make infrastructure improvements supportive of a military installation in order to enhance military operat...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, who serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, applauded the HELP Committee’s passage of his bipartisan Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0, legislation to continue funding the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) through Fiscal Year 2033, with an increase in the annual authorization from $12.6 million to $25 million over the 10 years. ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $100,000,000 in federal funding to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority to design and build the Franconia-Springfield Bypass, a critical bridge that will alleviate congestion on one of busiest railways in Virginia. Once completed, the project will allow Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express trains to seamlessly cross over two freight rail tracks, preventing delays and expanding capacity for additional service. “Pass...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) today introduced a resolution in support of the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD). The ADD includes Panama, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Ecuador. Cruz said, “In the last few years, countries across Latin America who were once among America’s closest democratic allies have pivoted away from the United States towards Russia and the Chinese Communist Party. Meanwhile the countries in the Alliance for Developm...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine and U.S. Representative Don Beyer (D-VA-08) introduced the Cost of Police Misconduct Act, legislation to increase transparency and accountability about the costs of police misconduct. The bill would require federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to report judgments and settlements related to police misconduct, including court fees and insurance payments, to the Department of Justice. The introduction comes days after the family of Irvo...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine sounded the alarm about the costs of a government shutdown and called on Republicans in Congress to fund the government by the October 1 funding deadline: “During my time in the Senate, I’ve seen the unnecessary harm a government shutdown inflicts upon federal employees, government contractors, and millions of Americans who rely on government services. While I will continue working with my colleagues to prevent a shutdown, we should never be in th...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $4,352,000 in federal funding for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Virginia Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund (VCWRLF). The VCWRLF offers low-interest loans to local governments in order to support efforts to address emerging contaminants that pollute Virginia’s clean water supply.  This federal funding will help manage the VCWRLF in order to better support local initiatives to protect wate...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) in calling on the Biden Administration to swiftly enact and continue to strengthen a proposed rule to limit the availability of short-term limited duration insurance (STLDI) plans, which are commonly referred to as “junk plans.” Junk plans provide inadequate coverage and deny...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine met with Charlottesville residents Jennifer and Corey Feist to congratulate them ahead of a ceremony tonight where they will receive a Surgeon General’s Medallion for successfully advocating for the enactment of Senator Kaine’s bipartisan Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, legislation to promote health care provider mental health. The bill was named in honor of Jennifer’s sister Dr. Lorna Breen, a physician from Charlottesville w...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the bipartisan Success for Military Connected Students Act, legislation to extend the maximum student to teacher ratio directive for Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools around the world. Included in the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by Congress, the maximum teacher to student ratio for grades K-3 were set at 1:18 and approximately 1:24 for grades 3-12. D...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) in introducing the Veteran Families Health Services Act of 2023, legislation that would expand the fertility treatments and family-building services covered under servicemembers’ and veterans’ health care. While the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) currently offer some forms of fertility treatment ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine applauded the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for taking a first step to better protect the merit-based federal workforce system and safeguard federal employees from losing due process rights: “From protecting national security to inspecting food to ensure it’s free of disease, federal workers do critical work to serve the American people. Every American benefits from having federal workers who are hired on the basis of their qualifications, ...Continue Reading

Letter Text (PDF) WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, along with Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), today called for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to implement a pilot program to provide mental health, substance use, and other supportive services for people experiencing homelessness, at ris...Continue Reading