Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine introduced the Preventing the Misuse of Tear Gas Act to address state and federal law enforcement’s use of tear gas. The bill would require federal law enforcement agencies to set policies stating that the use of riot control agents like tear gas should be avoided wherever possible against non-violent civilians and that their use to quell violent activity should minimize any impact on those not participati...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IN) sent a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, calling on the agencies to address the harmful retaliatory tariffs that inhibit trade of whiskey, other spirits, and wine between the United States and European Union (E.U.) and United Kingdom (U.K.). The letter comes as the European Union tariff on American whiskey is schedu...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine praised the Biden Administration’s decision to make Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grants available to “any individual who is or was enrolled at an eligible institution on or after March 13, 2020” and who demonstrates need. Under the Trump Administration, only students who filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) could apply for HEERF grants, but some financially needy students, such a...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine applauded the Treasury Department’s launch of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, established by the American Rescue Plan Act.  “We welcome the $7.2 billion in relief for Virginia and are pleased the Biden Administration has listened to our calls to give states, localities, and tribes significant flexibility in determining how best to use these emergency funds,” said the Senators. &ldquo...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on Military Spouse Appreciation Day, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and co-chair of the Senate Military Families Caucus, and John Boozman (R-AR) announced the reintroduction of the Jobs and Childcare for Military Families Act to address military spouse unemployment and access to affordable childcare. This bill would amend the tax code to incentivize businesses to hire military spouses and create new flexible sp...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.), U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) today led more than 50 colleagues in calling on the Biden Administration to strengthen the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and ensure that America’s teachers, social workers, public defenders, service members and community health care workers, along with many other public servants, receive the student loan forgiveness they have earned. &ldqu...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine—Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues—released the following statement today on the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly’s vote to dismiss the nation’s top judges and attorney general:  “By rubber-stamping President Bukele’s move to fire the country’s top judges and attorne...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced the International Press Freedom Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill that would promote global press freedom by creating a Coordinator for International Press Freedom at the State Department. The legislation would also authorize new funding for programs that help keep foreign journalists safe; use existing funding to prevent, investigate, and prosecute crimes against journalists overseas; and create a new visa...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA), along with Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Ben Cardin (D-MD), John Thune (R-SD), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) reintroduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2021. The CONNECT for Health Act will expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare, make permanent COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities, improve health outcomes, and make it eas...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON — Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was joined today by Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) in introducing the Safeguarding Human Rights in Arms Exports Act of 2021. As foreign governments intentionally or inadvertently use U.S.-sold arms and defense services to perpetrate human rights abuses against innocent civil...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today on cosponsoring Senators Gillibrand and Grassley’s Military Justice Improvement Act to professionalize the prosecution of sexual assault cases in the military: “I have supported dozens of reforms to give the military chain of command more tools to deal with the scourge of sexual assault. But I have been deeply disappointed with the lack of meaningful progress toward making the military a pl...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Tammy Baldwin, both members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, reintroduced two pieces of legislation to strengthen America’s child welfare system. The Child Welfare Workforce Support Act would address high turnover rates among child welfare workers, and the Protecting LGBTQ Youth Act would help prevent the maltreatment of lesbi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0. This legislation would provide a new source of funding for the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) by redirecting penalties collected from pharmaceutical, cosmetic, supplement, and medical device companies that break the law to pedi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Angus King, I-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., along with Representatives Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., today introduced the Supplying Help to Infrastructure in Ports, Yards, and America’s Repair Docks (SHIPYARD) Act of 2021, which would provide $25 billion to make investments needed to optimize, improve, and rebuild shipyard facilities, electrical infrastructure, envi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine sent a letter to President Biden recommending Patricia Tolliver Giles and U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff for the vacancy in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division.  “We are pleased to recommend Ms. Patricia Tolliver Giles and U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff for the vacancy in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Ale...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine applauded passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, legislation cosponsored by Warner and Kaine and designed to counter the recent trend of violence against members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The bill includes provisions of the Khalid Jabara-Heather Heyer NO HATE Act, cosponsored by Warner and Kaine last Congress to improve hate crimes reporting a...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced that the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) will receive $6,505,200 in federal funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deliver individuals that have transportation needs to state run Community Vaccination Centers. “We’re glad to see these federal dollars go towards helping Virginians who have transportation needs get vaccinate...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) along with Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-MD) today applauded an announcement by the Biden administration that it will release an additional 22,000 H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas, a move that will benefit the seafood processing industries in Virginia and Maryland. The senators had previously called on the administration to make available the maximum number of congressionally-authorized H-2B visas in or...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Service Committee, joined Senator Brian Schatz in reintroducing the Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act to allow doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to prescribe medical marijuana to veterans in states that have established medical marijuana programs. There are currently 36 states in the U.S., including the Commonwealth of Virginia, that have established medical marijuana programs. Under curr...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reintroduced a bipartisan bill to explicitly prohibit any President of the United States from withdrawing from NATO without Senate approval. The bill requires the President to seek the advice and consent of the Senate before suspending, terminating, or withdrawing U.S. membership in NATO and formalizes the Senate’s opposition to doing so. If a Presi...Continue Reading