Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced $410,581 in federal funding for infrastructure project planning in Augusta County and Smyth County and agricultural research at Virginia Tech. Future grants like these could be endangered by President Trump’s budget, which proposes to eliminate programs like the Economic Development Administration (EDA). “Today’s funding will continue promoting economic growth and agricultural research in the V...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined a bipartisan group of Senators calling on Defense Secretary James Mattis to better combat sexual harassment in the military in light of the “Marines United” scandal and requesting the Pentagon develop a proactive plan to eliminate intimidation, harassment, and reprisal online and in the barracks. “We write to you regarding reports that Active Duty and Reserve service members...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 regarding today’s vote on TrumpCare being pulled down in the House of Representatives: “It’s clear there is little support for TrumpCare, a bill that takes away health care from 24 million Americans, makes older Americans face higher premiums, burdens states with dramatic Medicaid cuts, and deprives women of access an...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine joined a group of fourteen Senators in introducing legislation to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs’ broken appeals process. The process has not been updated since 1933, and more than 450,000 appeals are currently pending. Because of redundancies and inefficiencies in the current process, most veterans wait years for a decision on their appeals. By replacing the current process, the Department of Veterans ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to a January memorandum from President Donald J. Trump, Senators Kaine and Warner, along with 16 of their colleagues, called on President Trump to reconsider his decision of halting all hiring in key government agencies. The memo, which placed a wide-ranging hiring freeze on the civil federal workforce, is currently impacting dozens of federal agencies and their ability to serve the American people.  The budget blueprint released by the administration la...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine joined Senator Jeff Merkley and 35 of their colleagues in opposing President Trump’s proposal to inflict a more than 30 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget. Expressing “extreme concern” over the cuts, the Senators wrote to appropriations leaders, “During the President’s February 28, 2017 address to Congress, he pledged to ‘promote clean air and water.’ Such a ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. -  U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined Senators Jon Tester (D-MT), John Boozman (R-AR) and Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) to introduce bipartisan legislation to improve services and access at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) for women veterans. The Deborah Sampson Act addresses gender disparities at the VA to ensure that women veterans are getting equitable care. The bill will provide enhanced access to VA care and will ensure women veterans are getting the ben...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – With an average of three Virginians dying each day from an opioid overdose, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined 19 of their Senate colleagues in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) calling on him not to take up any legislation that would further harm individuals struggling with an opioid use disorder. The repeal of the Affordable Care Act could strip health care coverage from 2.8 million Americans suffering from a substance use diso...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on the 400th anniversary of Pocahontas’ burial, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine introduced legislation to federally recognize six Virginia Indian tribes, which include descendants of Pocahontas’ Virginia Powhatan tribe. The Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017 would grant the Chickahominy, the Eastern Chickahominy, the Upper Mattaponi, the Rappahannock, the Monacan, and the Nansemond tribes legal stan...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. —U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined U.S. Tom Senator Carper and 22 of their colleagues to introduce legislation to rescind President Trump’s executive order to construct a border wall and ramp up deportations and detentions of undocumented immigrants. The executive order, signed January 25, 2017, mandates the immediate planning and construction of a wall along the entirety of the U.S. southern border with Mexico, expands the controversial 287(g) program that allows s...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s budget proposal:  “Budgets show us a President’s priorities, and based on what President Trump released today, I’m concerned that he's continuing to push policies that would hurt Virginians. While I support the Administration’s commitment to investments in defense, deep cuts to the State Department jeopardize our ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced resolutions in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to congressionally designate the George C. Marshall Foundation’s museum and library located in Lexington as the “National George C. Marshall Museum and Library.” These resolutions are cosponsored by the entire Virginia delegation in both the House and Senate. “General George C. Marshall’s lea...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on the sixth anniversary of the start of the Syrian civil war, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, along with Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), members of the Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a Senate resolution condemning the Assad regime’s blatant disregard for international law and human life and ur...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Todd Young (R-IN), co-chairs of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, introduced bipartisan legislation to raise the quality of CTE programs at schools in Virginia and across the country. The Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce Act amends the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act to better meet the needs of a 21st century workforce...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine participated in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the “Marines United” website scandal, where he voiced his outrage over the mistreatment and exploitation of female servicemembers and questioned Acting Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley, Commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert Neller, and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald Green on whether the scandal is being handled with an appropriate level of seriousn...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined six of his Senate colleagues to write a letter asking the Trump Administration to ensure that at-risk veterans can access critical mental health care. The Senators asked Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin for answers about how the VA plans to provide mental health care to veterans with other-than-honorable discharges. Half a million veterans have been given other-than-honorable discharges. Many of these discharges were given after d...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a statement on the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate of the Republican health care plan:   “Today’s CBO report confirms our fears about the Republican health care plan: 24 million Americans would lose their health insurance by 2026; premiums would spike, especially for seniors; states would be burdened by dra...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Armed Services Committees, and Mike Rounds (R-SD), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, introduced a bill today to strengthen the cybersecurity workforce that is critical to addressing the United States’ growing cyber challenges. The DoD Cyber Scholarship Program Act of 2017 would reinvigorate and mo...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement after his vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee against the nomination of David Friedman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Israel: “I am a staunch supporter of the critically important U.S.-Israel partnership and have long been committed to strengthening the unbreakable bond between our two countries.  The U.S. Ambassador to Israel serves as the steward of this vital relationship in a volatile part of the...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) wrote to President Trump today to urge him to reconsider steep budget cuts within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program. Several recent published reports indicate the Trump Administration will recommend cutting the Bay program from $73 million annually to $5 million. The Senators, both of whom were Virginia governors, each played vital roles managing Virginia’s multi-year, multi-state B...Continue Reading