Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced $4,024,286 in federal funding to support conservation efforts throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which covers 60% of Virginia and includes the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James Rivers and hundreds of streams across the Commonwealth. The funding was awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Chesapeake Watershed Investments in Landscape Defense (WILD) Progra...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (D-VA) applauded the groundbreaking of the I-64 Gap Widening Project, which will reduce congestion, increase safety, and improve travel times to and from Richmond and Hampton Roads. Warner and Kaine have worked to secure federal funding to make these improvements to I-64, including through the historic highway funding allocated to Virginia in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). They also secured $25 million through the com...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), joined a letter to President Biden calling on the Biden Administration to designate the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and/or authorize Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Palestinians living and working in the United States. TPS and DED offer temporary protections to eligible foreign nationals already in the United States who are unable ...Continue Reading

VIDEO of Kaine’s floor effort is available here. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, in recognition of Veterans Day and Military Day in the state of Alabama, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, held the Senate floor for over an hour in an effort to end Senator Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) blockade of 364 military promotions. During his floor action, Kaine individually called up all 364 promotions being blocked by Tuberville and asked for the Senate to approve them by unan...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA), Governor Glenn Youngkin, and Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Jen Kiggans (R-VA), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), and Rob Wittman (R-VA) issued a statement following new reports regarding the selection process run by the General Services Administration (GSA) to determine a location for the new headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigat...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) applauded $10,000,000 in federal funding for St. Paul’s Blue Greenway, a multipurpose park that will be located in St. Paul’s Redevelopment Project in Norfolk. Specifically, this funding will be used for the park’s development, which includes uncovering a buried creek and creating a resilient creek area, which will provide the neighborhood with a green space that will also help prevent future flooding. Once finished...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) today introduced the Focus on Learning Act, legislation that would require the U.S. Department of Education to complete a study on the effects of cellphone use in K-12 classrooms on students’ mental health and academic performance. “Widespread use of cell phones in schools are at best a distraction for young Americans; at worst, they expose schoolchildren to content that is harmful and addictive. Our legislation will make sc...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee, (both D-VA) joined U.S. Sens. John Ossoff (D-GA), Jack Reed (D-RI), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in a letter to President Biden regarding increasing violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. On October 29, the United Nations warned of es...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) today introduced their bill to give the District of Columbia the same number of U.S. service academy nominations and appointments as states. Currently, each member of the House and Senate is allocated five appointments to each of the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy, and is allowed to nominate 10 people for each appointment as it becomes vacant. However, because...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement after reports that the General Services Administration (GSA) decided the FBI’s new headquarters will be in Greenbelt, Maryland: “We’re deeply disappointed that despite the clear case that Virginia is the best home for the FBI, the Administration went a different direction. It’s especially disappointing that the FBI’s initial criteria for this decision—developed independently by the GSA and affir...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Bob Casey (D-PA), along with U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1), Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11), and Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), led a bicameral group of their colleagues in urging congressional leadership to renew expired funding for child care in any supplemental funding package. Funding the lawmakers passed in the American Rescue Plan Act to allow parents to aff...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Jack Reed (D-RI) and the majority of Senate Democrats in a letter to President Biden condemning the horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas and expressing the need to defeat the threat from Hamas and protect civilians in Gaza. Specifically, the senators request the...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) and Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA-10) sent a letter requesting that the National Park Service (NPS) conduct a reconnaissance survey to evaluate the suitability of designating Oak Hill, the home of President James Monroe located in Loudoun County, as a unit of the National Park System. “Oak Hill has clear historic value to our nation, and we believe that the property would make an excellent and appropriate addi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the Merit-Based Educational Reforms and Institutional Transparency Act (MERIT Act), legislation to end the practice of colleges and universities giving “preferential treatment” in the admissions process based on an applicant’s relationship to alumni or donors of the deciding institution. The MERIT Act would amend the Higher Education Act to add a new standard for accreditation in order to prevent accredited...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Issues, today released the following statement on the undemocratic power grab and political violence in Honduras. “We are deeply concerned by the LIBRE Party’s attempt to consolidate power in Honduras. Unilaterally appointing an interim Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General undermines the confidence in Honduras’ de...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine joined Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in introducing the Telehealth Response for E-prescribing Addiction Therapy Services (TREATS) Act, legislation that would increase access to telehealth services for individuals with substance use disorder (SUD). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) temporarily removed an in-person exam requirement for provide...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ben Cardin (D-MD) in introducing the Offshore Wind Jobs and Opportunity Act, legislation that would support offshore wind workforce development that meets the growing needs of the offshore wind and maritime industry. According to a recent report by the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), th...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), together with Senators Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Peter Welch (D-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), released the following statement: “The tragic war in Gaza, initiated by Hamas terrorist attacks on innocent civil...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $2,483,817 in federal funding for the Commonwealth to provide distance learning services for rural areas. The funding was awarded through U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants, which provide rural communities with advanced telecommunications technology. In all, these grants will provide 197,010 Virginia students with the technology they need to take ad...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) issued the statement below after voting in favor of a legislative package that will fund the Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, and military construction projects for Fiscal Year 2024. This package, which passed by a vote of 82-15, comes one month after Congress narrowly averted a governme...Continue Reading