Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined HELP Committee Ranking Member Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and six other committee members in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Candice Jackson following up on the Department of Education’s decision to revoke guidance that directs schools on how to handle investigations of sexual assault̵...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) today introduced legislation to create Medicare-X, a public plan that would offer families, individuals, and small businesses additional, low-cost health insurance choices and create more competition in the marketplace. The Medicare-X Choice Act would build on the Medicare framework to establish a public insurance plan offered on the individual and small business health exchanges, allowing Americans to choose among...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement today following President Trump’s decision not to make the certification required under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act: “President Trump is making a dangerous mistake.  Just last week, the President’s own military and national security advisors testified to Congress that sticking with the JCPOA is in U.S. national security interests....Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement today on President Trump’s decision to end cost-sharing reduction payments and destabilize the health care marketplace: “It's outrageous that an American President is deliberately raising health care costs on people across the country out of a blind opposition to the ACA. President Trump's decision to end the CSR payments wi...Continue Reading

Kaine raises concerns over proposed tax increases across the Commonwealth WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine voiced his concern with the Republican tax proposal after a new analysis shows hundreds of thousands of Virginia’s families could face a tax increase under the proposal. According to the Government Finance Officers Association, 37 percent of households in Virginia received an average deduction of $11,288 in their taxes from the state and local tax (SALT) deductio...Continue Reading

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined twenty-two of his colleagues to introduce legislation that would close a loophole that currently permits gun sales to proceed if a background check is not completed after 72 hours, even if the gun buyer is not legally allowed to purchase a gun. The gap in existing law has allowed thousands of gun sales to prohibited buyers. This issue gained traction, following Dylann Roof’s deadly attack at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Caro...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined 18 Senate colleagues to introduce the Keep Americans Safe Act, a commonsense bill that bans the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition and are designed for shooting en masse.  In what is now the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, 59 people were killed and 527 injured after a gunman opened fire on Las Vegas concert-goers.  Accordin...Continue Reading

Plan would invest $40 billion, connect 23 million rural Americans to high speed internet  WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner, a member of the Senate Budget, Finance and Banking Committees, and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Budget and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committees, praised a new Senate Democratic proposal to invest $40 billion to build the broadband infrastructure necessary to connect over 34 million Americans, including 23 million rural Americ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced $500,000 in federal funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizens, Inc., in partnership with the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, to build a community service and senior facility at the Falls Mills Elementary School site. “We are pleased to announce this important investment that will help build a facility to support seniors in Southwest Virginia,&rdquo...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today on Trump Administration abandoning Clean Power Plan: “As the country faces a series of devastating hurricanes and wildfires, President Trump is abandoning U.S. leadership on climate change and ignoring clear evidence that it’s contributing to more severe natural disasters and rising seas. This decision will not stop the global trend toward cleaner energy, only slow it down and allow other nations, ...Continue Reading

Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Require Spending Plan, Justification When the VA Requests More Money WASHINGTON, D.C. - In response to continued concerns about the VA’s inability to track its budget and spending of the Choice Program, U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are introducing bipartisan legislation to ensure the VA is budgeting accurately and responsibly. The Senators’ VA Financial Accountabili...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine joined U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to introduce the Automatic Gun Fire Prevention Act, a bill to close a loophole that allows semi-automatic weapons to be easily modified to fire at the rate of automatic weapons, the sale of which have been significantly curtailed and strictly regulated for more than 30 years. This bill would ban the sale, transfer, importation, manufacture or possession of bump stocks, trigger cranks, ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine questioned Governor Sam Brownback – President Trump’s nominee for Ambassador At Large For International Religious Freedom - on his record opposing LGBT rights. Kaine pressed Brownback to state that there are no circumstances under which religious freedom can justify criminalizing, imprisoning, or executing people based on their LGBT status. Brownback refused to unequivocally answer ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the Equifax breach, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine today called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to outline specific actions being taken to ensure consumers do not fall victim to a second round of attacks on their personal information. In the letter to Acting Chairman of the FTC Maureen Ohlhausen, Kaine, joined by Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), expressed concern over the breach that exposed ...Continue Reading

Bipartisan Bill Now Ready to Be Signed Into Law By The President 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 announced that the House of Representatives passed their bipartisan Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act, legislation that will reauthorize current research and improve public health programs for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing loss in ne...Continue Reading

~ Bipartisan bill would help protect pensions for more than 7,300 retired Va. coal miners ~  WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) in introducing the bipartisan American Miners Pension Act (AMP Act). Currently, the 1974 UMWA Pension Plan is on the road to insolvency. The American Miners Pension Act will shore up the 1974 UMWA Pension Plan to make sure that nearly 87,000 retired miners rec...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined twenty-one of his bipartisan colleagues in a letter to senior Trump Administration officials Thursday, urging them to apply the full weight of American diplomatic influence to help resolve the Rohingya crisis in Burma and Bangladesh. The Senators specifically called for providing additional humanitarian aid to those who have fled their homes and are struggling to survive. Approximat...Continue Reading

~ ARC grants will provide funding to improve infrastructure and promote economic development in the region ~  WASHINGTON— U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced today that Southwest Virginia will receive a total of $2,524,817 in federal funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to improve infrastructure and promote economic development.   “The Appalachian Regional Commission is an engine for economic development in Southwest Virginia and ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and 30 of their colleagues in a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos criticizing her decision to revoke guidance that directs schools on how to handle investigations of sexual assault and urging her to reverse course. Kaine has expressed serious concerns over Secretary DeVos’ decision for undermining the ri...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and 35 of their colleagues in sending a letter to President Trump to express deep concern about the situation in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and to suggest eight actions for the White House to take as quickly as possible.   In the letter, the Senators wrote, “We write to express deep concern about the dire humanitarian situation in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ...Continue Reading