Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) released the following statement after the Senate approved a stopgap funding bill to keep the government running through December 11, sending it to the president’s desk for signature: “We’re relieved that we’re going to avoid another pointless, painful government shutdown in the middle of a pandemic. But funding the government is Congress’ most basic responsibility, and we don’t think a...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) and Tim Kaine and Mark Warner (both D-Va.) applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to allow oyster and clam businesses to access funds included within the CARES Act Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The Senators penned a letter in July urging USDA to include these businesses – many of which are small and family owned – given the economic hardship they...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine—a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—and Congressman Gerry Connolly—a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee—requested that President Trump personally seek the release of U.S. citizen and northern Virginia resident Salah Al-Haidar, who has been detained on baseless grounds in Saudi Arabia since April 2019. Mr. Al-Haidar is the son of prominent women’s rights activist Aziza Al-Yousef, ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation that would designate September 30th as National Veterans Suicide Prevention Day. According to reports, overall military suicides have increased by approximately 20 percent compared to this time last year. The senators’ resolution would highlight the treatable invisible wounds sustained by many servicemembers and recognize t...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced that the Town of Wise and the Town of Pennington Gap will receive $550,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). “We’re pleased to announce these investments to strengthen Virginia’s workforce and wastewater infrastructure,” said the Senators. “This funding aims to support projects that will help expand economic opportunity in the region and improve health and water qua...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $19,013,614 from the U.S. Department of Labor for two career and training centers for seniors in Arlington, VA.  “These investments will enhance on-the-job training programs and provide seniors who are currently out of work with an opportunity to earn a paycheck and learn new skills, making them better-qualified candidates for future employment,” said the Senators. The funding will be awarded...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court: “I’ve said from the beginning that Senator McConnell should follow his own precedent from 2016: this vacancy should be filled by the winner of the ongoing election. I intend to follow that precedent and will not support anyone’s confirmation until we know the election results. There are less than 40 days between now and Electio...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $17,735,349.43 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education to Hampton University to establish the Virginia Workforce Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (VWIEC), a statewide small business incubator project. This grant will expand the capability and capacity of Virginia’s current and aspiring entrepreneurs to aid with economic recovery in...Continue Reading

Video: https://timkaine.box.com/s/bxxnn2ik1oznk3kissq4uw5kvkltdymk WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, in a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing titled “COVID-19: An Update on the Federal Response,” U.S. Senator Tim Kaine pressed Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Robert Redfield on the CDC removing guidance on its website pertaining to airborne spread of COVID-19. Kaine asked about the removal of the CDC’s statement that, “there is gr...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement today upon the Senate voting overwhelmingly to confirm Roderick C. Young as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia: “Roderick Young will be a fair, even-minded judge who is already well-respected in the Commonwealth. We were proud to recommend his nomination to this court, and we’re pleased to see him confirmed today.” In March, Warner and Kaine ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON — Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) today introduced the Safeguarding Human Rights in Arms Exports (SAFEGUARD) Act of 2020. With a growing list of foreign governments using U.S-sold arms and defense services in the commission of human rights abuses against innocent civilians in combat, the senators’ new legislation reasserts the importance of Congress&rs...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years, Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) today introduced legislation to prohibit federal law enforcement officers from wearing camouflage patterns in the United States in most cases, since they can easily be confused for military personnel when doing so. At a House Armed Service...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $7,798,131 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to develop, expand, and strengthen assistance programs for victims of sex trafficking in Richmond, Fairfax, Alexandria, and Hampton.   “Community and government-based agencies are on the front lines in the battle against human trafficking,” ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Chris Murphy (D-CT) today spoke with Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and expressed support for her candidacy and condemned the sham election that took place in August. Durbin, Kaine, and Murphy recently introduced a bipartisan resolution rejecting the discredited election results, condemning Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenko’s crackdown on peaceful protestors, and calling for the impo...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA), along with Reps. A. Donald McEachin (D-VA) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA), demanded answers from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) regarding reports of troubling conditions at Virginia facilities amid the COVID-19 crisis. Expressing frustration with Director Michael Carvajal’s failure to respond to a letter from earlier this year, the lawmakers pressed for answers concerning an ongoing lack of ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, along with U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott, Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer, A. Donald McEachin, Elaine Luria, Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton (all D-VA), wrote a letter to President Trump requesting that he extend a moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling to the Commonwealth of Virginia. This letter follows the President’s decision to exempt three states led by Republican ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $13,670,000 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s FY 20 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program to install over 70 miles of rail and other infrastructure upgrades for the Buckingham Branch Railroad North Mountain Subdivision line between Charlottesville and Clifton Forge...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today upon the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “Justice Ginsburg's legacy lies in a legal system far fairer than the one she found as one of only nine women in her first-year Harvard Law class. As a litigator, she rid our country of statutes that discriminated against women who were breadwinners and men who were child-rearers. As a justice, her majority opinions opened Virginia's last all-male public s...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner, Tim Kaine, and Patty Murray wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) requesting an investigation into the June 2020 transfer of immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention to Farmville, Virginia. The transfer, which was reportedly part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to send more federal agents to Washington, D.C., to end racial justice protests...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced that Virginia Fire Departments will receive $9,571,649.04 in federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program. The AFG program supports local fire departments by providing funds for new equipment and training. “Our firefighters put themselves in harm’s way every day. It’s critical that the...Continue Reading