Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) applauded Senate passage of the Fiscal Year 2017 Energy and Water Development funding legislation, by a bipartisan vote of 90-8. The first of 12 appropriations bills providing discretionary funding for the federal government, the bill provides funding for projects under the direction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation at the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy, and the Nucle...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined six of his Senate colleagues in calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to swiftly implement an advisory committee’s recommendations to approve mandatory education and training for prescribers of extended-release and long-acting (ER/LA) opioids, which were praised by the Washington Post’s editorial board. The Senators also asked the FDA to broaden the scope of the agency’s existing risk management strategy to incl...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) released the following joint statement today on Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld’s announcement that Metrorail service will undergo a year-long overhaul to fix systemic safety problems.  “For years, we have been waiting to see a take-charge management plan to deal with Metro’s safety issues and we appreciate the General Manager’s release of a proposed repair plan today that grasps the urgency ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, President Obama announced that the 52nd class of U.S. Presidential Scholars will include 20 recipients for outstanding scholarship and accomplishment in career and technical education (CTE) fields. Last year, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, co-chair of the Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus, led a successful, bipartisan effort to expand the Presidential Scholars program to include CTE. This year marks the first time the prestigious recognition will be awarde...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development will receive $3,140,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Housing Trust Fund (HTF). The funding is aimed at preserving the supply of low-income housing and increasing homeownership for low-income families across Virginia. “We’re pleased that families across the Commonwealth will continue to have access to ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement today on the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) report on the deadly 2015 Metro smoke incident at L’Enfant Plaza: “More than fifteen months after the smoke incident at L’Enfant Plaza, we are extremely disturbed that many of the safety hazards that allowed that deadly accident to occur have not yet been addressed. As the report states, responsibility for this incide...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – In response to recent attempts of legislatures in states like North Carolina to limit the rights of LGBT people and transgender students, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), along with 38 Senate Democrats, urged the Department of Education to release comprehensive guidance on the full scope of protections afforded to transgender and gender non-conforming students in our middle schools, high schools, and colleges. In recent years, both the Department of Educa...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Representative Rob Wittman, joined by Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Representative Randy Forbes, sent a letter to President Obama Friday supporting Governor Terry McAuliffe’s appeal of the administration’s decision not to issue a major disaster declaration after severe storms and tornadoes hit Virginia on February 24th. The deadly storms caused significant damage throughout the Commonwealth, especially in Sussex, Appomattox, and Essex Counties, stretching ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today on the executive actions President Obama announced to reduce gun violence: “We’ve seen tragedies in countless cities and towns including Charleston, Newtown and Blacksburg. In Roanoke last year, we saw a horrific shooting take the lives of two young journalists. It’s also important to remember that countless instances of gun violence occur outside the purview of the mainstream media – d...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine attended a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on counter-ISIL operations and Middle East strategy with Defense Secretary Ashton Carton and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford.  Senator Kaine raised objections to the continued reliance on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the broad interpretation of international law to justify expanding U.S. military action. With news this week of ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine attended a Senate Aging Committee hearing examining the harmful impacts that price hikes on decades-old prescription drugs have had on patients, hospitals and the health care system. During the hearing, Kaine introduced one of the witnesses, Berna Heyman, a resident of Williamsburg who was diagnosed with Wilson disease in 2005 at the age of 60. Heyman was able to manage her condition effectively with Syprine until 2014, when Valeant Pharmace...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined 24 of his Senate colleagues in calling for additional federal resources to test drinking water in schools for lead and other contaminants. The Senators voiced concerns that many schools do not have the resources to test whether drinking water is contaminated with lead or other toxins from service lines or plumbing systems. “Lead contamination in Flint, Michigan and communities across the country has highlighted the issue of lead and ot...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine met with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, who currently serves as chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Kaine has urged the Senate’s Republican leaders to abandon their pledge to deny Garland a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing or vote, despite his extensive judicial experience.  ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement: “Today I voted against an amendment to the Energy & Water appropriations bill to cut all funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). Over the past five years, ARC has used approximately $365 million to leverage nearly ten times as much in private investment in things like infrastructure, education incentives, and job-creating economic development in Appalachia. This has helped reduce the number ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.  - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine applauded Senate passage of the bipartisan Energy Policy Modernization Act (S. 2012), which will bolster energy efficiency, renewable energy and land conservation across the nation. It is the first comprehensive energy bill since 2007. “I was proud to support this bipartisan energy bill, both for its good substance and for the good-faith bipartisan process that led to its passage today,” Kaine said. “I was pleased to have sponsore...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on Senate passage of a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the activities and financing of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through Fiscal Year 2017, which includes proposals Kaine supported to strengthen security at Virginia’s airports: “I’m glad the Senate was able to pass a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. With 66 public airports in Virginia and 45 m...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and 40 of their colleagues wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran calling for immediate passage of President Obama’s emergency supplemental funding request of $1.9 billion for prevention and treatment of the Zika Virus outbreak. Specifically, the new letter calls for the Senate Appropriations Committee to mark-up the President’s emergency fu...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined a half-dozen of their Senate colleagues to introduce the States Achieve Medicaid Expansion (SAME) Act of 2016. The bill would ensure that states that choose to expand eligibility for Medicaid after 2014 are eligible for the same level of federal matching funds as states that expanded earlier under the terms of the Affordable Care Act. “States across the country have already expanded Medicaid in a way...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released the following statement today regarding the upcoming April 14 deadline to apply for the Department of Transportation FASTLANE grant program: “Congress established the FASTLANE grant program specifically to fund transportation infrastructure projects of great national significance, and the regional delegation worked to...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine hiked to the summit of The Stony Man Trail in Shenandoah National Park (SNP) today to celebrate the National Park Service (NPS) Centennial and to encourage fellow Virginians to “Find Your Park” throughout the year. Kaine started his day at SNP Headquarters near Luray to meet with SNP Superintendent Jim Northup, SNP Deputy Superintendent Jennifer Flynn, park rangers, NPS staff and community leaders. They discussed preservation work and p...Continue Reading