Press Releases

*View photos of the event HERE*  WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined local workforce and economic development leaders to host a summit on how Hampton Roads can prepare to fill the Navy’s needs as it pursues, with additional funding, a 355-ship fleet within the next 20 years. Kaine gathered groups from across the region to discuss the needs and opportunities for the local workforce as the navy pursues a 355...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Susan M. Collins (R-ME), and Richard Durbin (D-IL) to urge Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to publicly release the complete State Department report containing findings that document atrocities committed by Burmese security forces against Rohingyas and to take appropriate actions against individuals or entities involved in the violent campaign.      The full text of the le...Continue Reading

~ Also send letter to Administration stressing the short- and long-term damage of Trump’s policy of traumatizing children seeking asylum ~ WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) introduced legislation that promotes family unity by prohibiting U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials from separating children from their parents, except in extraordinary circumstances. Sens. Warner and Kaine also joined 38 of their Senate colleagues in a letter urgin...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) released the following statement after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed into law the state budget that expands Medicaid: “After years of working on this issue that affects families across the Commonwealth, we are thrilled that hundreds of thousands of Virginians who currently lack basic health care coverage will finally have some peace of mind. Today’s historic signing shows a good faith effort by legislator...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) have introduced The Correctly Recognizing Educational Achievements to Empower (CREATE) Graduates Act. This bill will help students receive the degrees that they have already earned by creating incentives for institutions of higher education to establish “reverse transfer” programs, or initiatives to transfer back credits from a four-year institution to the community college where they we...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, released the following statement after the Department of Justice released a memo on its legal justification for the April 2018 airstrikes against Syria: “The Administration asserts that its firing of missiles against a foreign nation is not likely to ‘rise to the level of war in the constitutional sense.’  That’s nonsense. Is there any ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement after several countries announced retaliatory tariffs in response to President Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on key U.S. allies: “President Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on some of our closest allies is threatening the livelihood of Virginia farmers. The European Union, Canada, and Mexico are now starting to retaliate by imposing steep tariffs of their own on ma...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined Tina Smith (D-MN) to introduce the Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections (HELP) for Separated Children Act to protect the safety and wellbeing of minor children who have been left alone after their parents have been arrested or detained by U.S. immigration authorities. “The Trump Administration’s heartless policies tear apart immigrant families and cause undue harm on children who are stuck in the middle,” Ka...Continue Reading

Legislation would protect workers’ freedom to negotiate and speak up, stop companies from retaliating against workers WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has co-sponsored the Workplace Action for a Growing Economy (WAGE) Act, a bill to strengthen workers’ rights to form or join a union, speak up together for better wages and conditions, and bargain collectively with their employers. The WAGE Act...Continue Reading

Provides over $33 billion to support shipbuilding and carrier priorities  WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement on the Committee’s Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes numerous provisions he championed to benefit Virginia’s shipbuilding industry, defense community, servicemembers, military spouses, and their families. The bill was reported out of com...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement on final passage of the VA Mission Act, legislation he supports to consolidate all community care programs under the Department of Veterans Affairs, which includes the VA Choice program, and provide an additional year of funding for the Choice program until the consolidation. The legislation passed the Senate today by a bipartisan vote of 92-5: “The VA Mission ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis to request more details regarding the Department of Defense’s train, advise, assist, and accompany missions in Africa and across the globe. Kaine’s letter comes in the wake of an investigation that determined the mission in Niger that ended in the death of four American servicemembers was inaccurately p...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have cosponsored the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, a bipartisan bill that would legalize and clearly define hemp as an agricultural commodity, removing it from the list of controlled substances. Currently, hemp falls under the definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act and, while it is cultivated for research purposes in Virginia, the agriculture industry cannot currently grow it for commercial use. Hemp is distinct from ...Continue Reading

~ Funds awarded to support the development and well-being of communities across Virginia ~ WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $43,246,753 in federal funding to support affordable housing development across Virginia. The funding, which will go to 26 municipalities across the Commonwealth, has been awarded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Public Housing Capital Fund. “...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine joined a bipartisan letter calling on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to support long-term funding that would make broadband and voice services more accessible and affordable in rural communities. In the letter, the Senators thank the FCC for its work to support rural broadband and request that it prevent upcoming funding cuts to smaller operators that deliver broadband to the country’s most rural co...Continue Reading

~ Encourage HHS Secretary to work with Congress on bipartisan proposals to stabilize marketplace and address double-digit health insurance premium increases ~  WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar, urging him to take swift action to stabilize the insurance marketplace. On May 4, the majority of health insurers filed initial rates with the Virginia Bureau of Insurance proposi...Continue Reading

~ New gag rule would interfere with doctors' ability to provide patients information about reproductive care ~ *Click here to see a list of Va. health centers that receive Title X funding* WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined more than two hundred of their Senate and House colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar expressing opposition to the implementation of a domestic gag rule on Title X, the only f...Continue Reading

~ Senators say trading American security for jobs in China is a bad deal ~ WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined a group of 33 Senators calling on the Trump Administration to put American jobs and national security ahead of China. The Senators wrote a letter to the Administration in response to President Trump’s announcement that he has directed the Department of Commerce to look at easing penalties imposed on China-based company ZTE for viola...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Tim Kaine has joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues to cosponsor the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act—bipartisan, comprehensive legislation to narrow the scope of mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, target violent and career criminals and save taxpayer dollars.  The legislation permits more judicial discretion at sentencing for offenders with minimal criminal histories and helps inmates successfully reenter ...Continue Reading

~ Funds will be used to place 33 new teachers in schools in Gloucester, New Kent, York, Williamsburg-James City, Newport News and Hampton ~ WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced that the College of William and Mary (W&M) will receive $1,199,858 in federal funding to recruit Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) students to become secondary school mathematics and science teachers. “This critical funding will support the rec...Continue Reading