Press Releases

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

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