Press Releases

Letter follows yesterday’s announcement by President Biden that he is following through on his commitment to provide hundreds of millions of high-quality masks at no-cost to Americans WASHINGTON, D.C. —Yesterday U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined a letter led by Senators Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin to President Joe Biden, urging the Administration to prioritize the purchase of masks made in the U.S. wit...Continue Reading

“Given the dangerous situation in Afghanistan, the history of the conflict, and the risk that many of these Afghans face due to their support for the United States over the past two decades, mechanistically applying these restrictive standards is inhumane, cruel, and contradictory to U.S. commitments and interests.” WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine today joined Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and 13 of his Senate colleagues in writi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), both members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the bipartisan Promoting Access to Critical Countermeasures by Ensuring Specimen Samples (ACCESS) to Diagnostics Act, which supports quicker research and development of medical countermeasures, including diagnostic tests, vaccines, and therapeutics, in response to emerging infectious diseases. Thi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement after an effort to reform Senate rules to overcome Republican obstruction and pass voting rights legislation was blocked on the Senate floor: “I am deeply disappointed by today’s vote, but the stakes are too high and the moment too meaningful to give up on voting rights legislation. We will keep fighting to protect our democracy and ensure that people can vote free of obstacles or intimidation. We...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement after voting rights legislation was blocked by Senate Republicans and ahead of a vote to reform Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation: “The unwillingness of Republicans to entertain voting rights reform does not absolve the Senate of the responsibility to protect democracy. Following massive disenfranchisement efforts in states across the country, we need to reform the Senate rules so that we c...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA), and U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott and Elaine Luria (both D-VA), applauded $369,000,000 in federal funding for a number of key projects, including the City of Norfolk’s Coastal Storm Risk Management project and the Norfolk Harbor Widening and Deepening project. This funding, awarded through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), was made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure law, which was negotiated by Sen. Warner and ...Continue Reading

For video of Kaine’s remarks, click here WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a former civil rights attorney, spoke on the Senate floor during the Senate debate on voting rights legislation. During his speech, Kaine pushed for passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act following attempts to restrict voting rights in certain states across the country. Senator Kaine spoke on the floor after Senator Cornyn, who holds President Lyndon B. J...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) today joined Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in pressing the Biden administration to speak out publicly and through diplomatic channels with greater force regarding Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s troubling fossil fuel-friendly agenda. In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granho...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement after Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) General Manager and CEO Paul Wiedefeld announced his retirement from the agency: "I appreciate Paul Wiedefeld’s service and dedication to WMATA, his even-keeled leadership, and his work to improve the Metro system — particularly his willingness to make hard decisions in the best interest of safety. Metro provides an important service for ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement after Senate Democrats successfully used current Senate procedure to begin debate on critical voting rights legislation after months of obstruction by Senate Republicans: “As a Senator sworn to protect and defend the Constitution who has lived through an attack on our constitutional form of government on January 6 and seen efforts to restrict voting rights across the country, I have concluded that debat...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine applauded $2,008,250 in federal funding awarded to the Chickahominy Eastern Division and Nansemond Indian Nation to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding was awarded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) program, which was extended under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, legislation Senators Warner and Kaine voted for in March 2021....Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) today announced the largest-ever federal investment in Virginia’s bridges, made possible by the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law negotiated by Sen. Warner and supported by Sen. Kaine. Virginia will receive $536.8 million over five years to address highway bridge needs, which include 577 bridges across the Commonwealth that are currently rated as being in “poor” condition, according to the U...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and 24 of his Senate Democratic colleagues in introducing the Defending Ukraine Sovereignty Act of 2022, critical legislation to impose steep costs in the event of a renewed Kremlin invasion of Ukraine. As the Kremlin continues to engage in an unjustified military build-up along Ukraine’s border, the proposal by Senate Democrats to deter a military escalation send...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) today announced $500,000 in federal funds for the Town of Dungannon to go towards improvements to its water distribution system. The improvements include the installation of 13,840 linear feet of waterline at scattered locations to improve water service for 42 households and 25 businesses. The new waterline will also increase water accountability and create hydraulic efficiencies in the distribution system. “This projec...Continue Reading

For video of Kaine’s remarks, click here WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing titled: Addressing New Variants: A Federal Perspective on the COVID-19 Response, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to provide a breakdown of what percentage of individuals, hospitalized or deceased, due to COVID ar...Continue Reading

For video of Kaine’s remarks, click here WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Senator Angus King (I-ME), and Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) in a voting rights press conference, where he spoke about the importance of protecting the right to vote as efforts are under way in jurisdictions across the country to make it harder for people to v...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere (both D-VA), joined 30 of their Senate Democratic colleagues in formally requesting that the Biden administration grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) re-designations for El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, in addition to a new TPS designation for Guatemala. In a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine, Tina Smith, and Tammy Baldwin led a letter urging the Biden Administration to ensure easy access to rapid COVID-19 tests for Americans across the country. In a letter Friday, the Senators pressed the Biden Administration to take needed steps to streamline access to at-home testing. The letter comes after the Biden Administration announced additional actions to combat COVID-19, including through rapid COVID-19 tests. “As you work...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) today pressed Amtrak for answers, just days after passengers found themselves stranded on a train for more than 24 hours in Lynchburg, Va. during a winter storm. “According to news reports, passengers on board described the lack of communication from Amtrak as a nightmare situation. One passenger has said that Amtrak did not tell passengers that they would be spending the night in the train after it returned to Ke...Continue Reading

For video of Kaine’s remarks, click here WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine delivered a speech on the importance of protecting voting rights and his work to pass his Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Kaine said during his remarks, “The Voting Rights Act … is viewed as the most important piece of civil rights legislation in the history of this country. It ushered in dramatic increase in voter turnout, more op...Continue Reading