Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced $1,199,405 in federal funding for Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to recruit STEM students and prepare them to become secondary school mathematics and science teachers. VCU will collaborate with the Richmond Metro Area’s school districts to address a shortage of math and science teachers that the area has faced for years. “We are proud to announce critical funding to support the recruitment of m...Continue Reading

Washington, DC – Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) are calling for swift action from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to implement legislation to bring recently passed student debt relief to borrowers in public service.  The provisions, which passed as part of the omnibus spending bill last week, are based on a bill authored by Kaine and Whitehouse to fix a glitch in the Department of Education’s Public Ser...Continue Reading

~ Payday lending rule was developed over five years after CFPB reviewed more than one million public comments ~  WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined a group of 41 Senators in a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Acting Director Leandra English and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney urging them to end any efforts to undermine and repeal the CFPB’s payday lending rule. The rule represents an important...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined his Democratic colleagues on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee to call on Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-VA) to hold a HELP hearing as soon as possible to examine the causes and remedies for school shootings and other mass shootings. Kaine and his Democratic colleagues believe gun violence is a public health crisis, putting it in the purview of their committee that c...Continue Reading

Senators criticize Education Department for misplaced focus on 2014 directive on school discipline in aftermath of Parkland shooting  WASHINGTON, D.C.  – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) led nine of their colleagues in urging the Department of Education to focus more on tangible ways to prevent gun violence in schools, instead of blaming last month’s shooting in Parkland, Florida on a 2014 directive on school discipline. That...Continue Reading

Senators’ provisions will assist teachers, social workers, military personnel, and other public servants cancel their student loan debt WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Included in the omnibus federal spending bill that cleared Congress last night was a version of a bill offered by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to fix a glitch in a federal loan forgiveness program that is leaving teachers, soldiers, social workers, and other public servants with massive loan balance...Continue Reading

~ Provides funding for critical Virginia priorities ~   WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) issued the following statements after Congress approved a $1.3 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government through September 30, 2018. “While the process that got us here was imperfect, this bill will keep the government open through the end of September, and fund several priorities important to Virginia and the nation. It includes $380 millio...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, released the following statement on recent reports that Afrin, Syria was evacuated following a Turkish military-led operation: “I am deeply concerned over recent reports that the majority of the population in Afrin was evacuated under attack from a Turkish military-led operation.  This adds to the already concerning humanitarian situation in Syria, as hundreds of th...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.) seeking clarification about whether thousands of Virginians who pre-paid their property taxes ahead of the Republican tax plan going into effect will actually lose that savings they were counting on. In December 2017, Republicans in Congress passed President Trump’s tax reform legislation that put a $10,000 cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, which will incre...Continue Reading

Safe Schools Legislation Would Require School Districts Across the Country to Develop, Implement Locally Driven Anti-Bullying Policies WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine co-sponsored the Safe Schools Improvement Act, legislation requiring schools to take greater measures to prevent bullying and harassment. This follows a Department of Education study which found that 1 in 5 childr...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine, Ranking Member on the Senate Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, and a member of the Seapower Subcommittee, and Mark Warner released the following statements after the Navy released a request for proposal (RFP) to Huntington Ingalls Industries in Newport News to inform a potential block buy of two Ford-class aircraft carriers: “After years of advocating for the Navy to block-buy carriers, I welcome today's news tha...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, released the following statement today announcing his support for the joint resolution to direct the removal of U.S. armed forces from hostilities in Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress: “The civil war in Yemen has led to a devastating humanitarian crisis – more than 10,000 civilians have been killed and millions of Yemenis are on the brink of famine. I...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on Senate passage of the bipartisan Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act:  “Large banks have been getting bigger while the number of smaller community banks has declined, making it harder for Virginians in rural and underserved communities to get loans for mortgages, send their kids to college, or start small businesses. This bill helps prevent more of that consolidation ...Continue Reading

~ Senators raise concerns regarding Inspector General report highlighting leadership failures at the facility ~ WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-Va.) pushed the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to take immediate action regarding critical failures at the Washington D.C. VA Medical Center (DCVAMC) highlighted in an Inspector General report released last week that showed patients were put at risk due to supply, equipment, and inventory issues. Last ye...Continue Reading

Support our Military Spouses Act would reduce confusion and ensure military spouses do not have to establish new legal residency after every military reassignment  WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Kennedy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Joe Manchin (D-WV) introduced the bipartisan Support our Military Spouses Act today to ease the relocation process frequently required of military families. The bill will ensure that all spouses of active duty service member...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act: “I’m a strong supporter of Dodd-Frank, and I have serious concerns about the big banks getting even bigger, in part because of a current one-size-fits-all approach. The bipartisan regulatory reform bill we’re considering this week ensures that financial institutions will continue to be more rigorously regulated by more r...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), led a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen requesting details on the Administration’s decision to deny additional Syrians the opportunity to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) despite numerous statements from senior officials that no part of Syria is safe for return. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. -  Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined a group of bipartisan senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) in a letter to President Trump to urge the completion and announcement of our nation’s cyber defense strategy. For years, Kaine has called for a clear cyber doctrine to ensure the United States has a strategy in place to defend and respond to cyber-attacks. Kaine has also championed legislation to help prepare students for cybersecurity...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement after an Inspector General report confirmed that veterans were put at risk at the DC VA Medical Center: “This disturbing new Inspector General report confirms that leadership at multiple levels of the VA turned a blind eye or, even worse, blatantly ignored troubling information and procedures that put veterans at risk. We have to demand more from those in charge of caring for veterans who have sacrifice...Continue Reading

~ Funds will help build four-lane divided roadway to reduce traffic ~ WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced today that Loudoun County will receive $25 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to help alleviate traffic congestion. The grant will allow Loudoun County to construct a new 1.6-mile segment of Northstar Boulevard to complete a 14-mile north-south corridor connecting to U.S. Route 50 – a key transportation...Continue Reading