Press Releases

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

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine have requested information from the Departments of State and Homeland Security about their efforts to protect unwitting older Americans tricked into trafficking drugs internationally. In two letters—one to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the other to Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official Tony Pham, and Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $2,271,091.11 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to repair damages to Ringgold Rail Trail and Sandy Creek Bridge from overland and waterway flooding in Pittsylvania County. “The damage to Ringgold Rail Trail and Sandy Creek Bridge caused by tropical storm Michael in Pittsylvania County in 2018&nbs...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today on the 19th anniversary of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and reports that U.S. Africa Command is requesting new authorities to carry out armed drone strikes in Kenya: “On the 19th anniversary of a war authorization that multiple presidents have used to justify military action all over the globe, the current administration is considering stretching it even further to carry ou...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine joined Senator Chris Coons and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn to introduce legislation to honor and commemorate the historic sites that contributed to the 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The bill would recognize the importance of the additional sites that catalyzed litigation in Delaware, South Carolina, Kansas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., -- including the Robert Russa Moto...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) had awarded $1,282,917 in federal funding to promote entrepreneurship, startup creation, innovation, and commercialization in Martinsville and Blacksburg.  “This funding is another step in the right direction, helping to boost startups through investments in technology, health, and life sci...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) today pushed to protect thousands of essential workers in the National Capital Region including those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), whose eligibility is in question due to ongoing legal efforts by the Trump Administration to terminate the program. In a letter, the Senators urged Senate leaders to include an automatic extension of work authorizations for TPS recipients, such as those from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and H...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $5,115,615 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual assault in Charlottesville, Norfolk, Marion, and Richmond.   “Community-based intervention programs are an invaluable tool in the fight against violence against women,” said the S...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) celebrated that the bill to rename a Hopewell, Va. post office as the “Reverend Curtis West Harris Post Office Building” passed in the U.S. House of Representatives today. The bill, introduced by U.S. Representative A. Donald McEachin (D-VA), honors the life and legacy of Reverend Curtis West Harris, who long fought for racial justice and equity. Reverend Harris served as pastor of Hopewell’s Union Baptist C...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) released the following statement following a report that the Trump Administration transferred detainees from COVID-19 hotspots in Florida and Arizona in order to access additional federal agents to end peaceful protests in Washington, D.C.: “We are outraged by the recent news report. The transfers callously put federal employees, the Farmville community, and detainees at risk, in what appears to be an effort to add more...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $14,400,000 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to address traffic and connectivity issues in Norfolk, VA. The funding follows aggressive advocacy by Sens. Warner and Kaine, who personally sent letters to Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao in support of the City of Norfolk’s application for DOT’...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced $35,719,247 in federal funding to support access to safe and affordable housing throughout Virginia, particularly in communities whose households face a higher rate of eviction. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the funding through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The funding is part of the $5 billion in supplemental CDBG funding authorized...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement today before voting against moving forward on Senator McConnell’s latest attempt to pass a “skinny” COVID-19 relief bill: “We’re not going to vote for a half-baked relief bill, pat ourselves on the back, and call it a day while families are left out in the lurch. The two of us are ready to vote for meaningful relief for small businesses and struggling families but no...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement today upon the Senate voting to confirm Thomas Cullen as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia: “We’re pleased to see the Senate confirm Thomas Cullen to this judgeship. We’re impressed with his record of prosecuting white supremacists in Charlottesville, and we believe he will serve the Western District well.” Mr. Cullen has served as the...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) and U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-Va.) issued the following joint response to The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission Safety Audit of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). This was the first audit of the safety commission since it was established in 2017, two years after the death of Carol Glover in a smoke-filled Yellow Line train. “We are appalled and disappointed b...Continue Reading