Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine and U.S. Representative Scott Taylor announced that the City of Virginia Beach will receive $4,588,677 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to alleviate the financial burden of debris removal following Hurricane Matthew. Hurricane Matthew brought torrential rain and winds to Hampton Roads in October 2016, flooding about 1,400 properties across the region. “Hurricane Matthew dealt a blow to Virginia Be...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine delivered a speech on the Senate floor addressing President Trump’s announcement on Twitter this morning that he supports a government shutdown in September. With 170,000 federal employees in Virginia, and countless other people across the Commonwealth who would be directly and indirectly harmed by a shutdown, Kaine made it clear that he will fight against this threat at every turn. Kaine said he was “very disturbed with the Pres...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), founding member of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, led U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Todd Young (R-IN) in introducing the CTE Excellence and Equity Act to support re-designing the high school experience to include courses more relevant to the 21st century workforce to better prepare students for future careers. The bill would provi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) applauded the inclusion of key Virginia priorities in the 2017 fiscal year spending bill, which Congress will vote on this week, but highlighted that the Trump Administration created needless strain on industries across the country after asking Republican leadership to delay a deal in December. The omnibus bill funds the government through the end of the 2017 fiscal year on September 30. “This bipartisan spending...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, along with Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), introduced the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2017 – legislation that would give states the right to collect the sales and use taxes they are owed under current law from out-of-state businesses or online retailers. “Right now, small businesses are being forced to compete on an uneven playing field. Local, brick-and-mortar business collect sales taxes from the...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today on President Trump’s executive order initiating a review of National Monument designations over the past 20 years. This order could impact the recently designated Fort Monroe National Monument in Hampton, Virginia: “President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act in 1906 to protect as National Monuments some of America's most sacred places. Grand Canyon, Denali, and Zion were a few. Designa...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, today praised the HELP Committee’s passage of their bipartisan legislation – the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act – to reauthorize current research and improve public health programs for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing loss in newborns, infants, and young children.  Rep. Brett Guthr...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate unanimously adopted a resolution introduced by U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the second deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, which claimed 32 lives and injured 17 others. The resolution honors the victims, offers condolences to their families, and recognizes the resilience of the Virginia Tech community in the decade following the tragedy. Kaine was serving as Governo...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – In a letter today, Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, and Reps. Gerry Connolly, A. Donald McEachin, and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (all D-VA) urged Congressional leaders to take action to protect retired coal miners who risk losing their healthcare benefits as part of negotiations to keep the government funded before the end of the week. Last year, Congress reached a deal to extend government funding and retired miners’ health care benefits until April 28th. In...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner will introduce a Senate resolution commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the second deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, which claimed 32 lives and injured 17 others. The resolution honors the victims, offers condolences to their families, and recognizes the resilience of the Virginia Tech community in the decade following the tragedy. Kaine was serving as Governor of Virginia when the trage...Continue Reading

Washington, DC – Yesterday, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Senate Foreign Relations Committees, sent a letter to President Trump asking that he detail the legal basis for the strike against the Shayrat airbase in Syria on April 6th, which has yet to be provided to Congress and the American people.   Schiff and Kaine stated that a full understanding of the domest...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – A week after the Trump Administration lifted a misguided freeze on new hires in the federal workforce, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) are asking the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for a plan to prioritize filling administrative positions which are key to addressing a shortage of medical professionals who serve in the V-A medical system. The hiring freeze – which exempted V-A clinical staff but not V-A personnel responsible for recruiting and hiring cl...Continue Reading

~ Funding is first of two grant rounds established as a result of the 21st Century Cures Act ~  WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) today announced that Virginia will receive $9,762,332 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to combat the opioid epidemic that kills an average of three Virginians daily. “These funds will help Virginia respond to the epidemic of opioid abuse that has devastated communities across the Commonwealth,&...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner, Tim Kaine, and U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded the Virginia Department of Transportation $8.2 million to repair damage to Interstate-64 from severe flooding in Alleghany County last year. “The damage to I-64 caused by severe flooding in Alleghany County last summer has had lasting impacts for residents, travelers, and commuters in the region. The federal ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, along with U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and David Perdue (R-GA), released the following joint statement on the release of Aya Hijazi, a dual Egyptian-American citizen and resident of Virginia, who had been unjustly impri...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement on the Trump Administration’s directive that lifts the federal hiring freeze on government agencies, but also directs agencies to submit plans for long-term cuts to their workforce: “It was a mistake for President Trump to impose a federal hiring freeze without first assessing the needs of federal agencies. As a result, our government’s ability to carry out basic functions, like processing S...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, along with Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), has introduced legislation to grant Purple Heart recipients full Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). It also includes a provision to make Purple Heart recipients eligible to participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program, which is an optional program for universities to provide additional funding to veterans if their Post-9/11 GI Bi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined 19 of his Senate colleagues in sending a letter to President Trump urging him to address the nationwide opioid epidemic. Last year as part of the 21st Century Cures Act, Congress included $1 billion for states to expand opioid addiction services, but nearly four months since this funding became available it has still not been allocated to states based on need. “Th...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today on NBC’s Meet the Press, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, questioned the legality of President Trump’s use of military force in Syria without Congressional approval. Acknowledging the horrible atrocities committed by the Assad regime, Kaine reiterated that while he has called for a strong response to Syria since his vote for military action following the chemical weapons attack in 2...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – A coalition of 21 U.S. Senators strongly urged U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to reconsider proposed budget cuts to airport, seaport and mass transit security programs in order to fund President Trump’s request for more than $4 billion to construct a wall along America’s southern border.  The letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Tom Carper (D-DE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Al Franken (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-M...Continue Reading