Timothy M. Kaine finding his stride in Senate

Four months and 19 days into his first term in the U.S. Senate, Timothy M. Kaine has grown comfortable with the daily hustle and bustle of Washington.

To date, the Democrat has introduced three bills, mostly geared toward military issues. On the Senate floor, Kaine has stressed bipartisanship.

“I am looking very hard to find things where we can solve problems and at the same time build up the continued capacity of the body to work together,” Kaine said in an interview at his Senate office in Washington. “I’m trying to make sure that this cooperation can grow, because we desperately need it here,” he said.

Kaine, who serves on the Armed Services, Budget and Foreign Relations committees, has sought to form early alliances and make friends among colleagues in the GOP.

“Tim Kaine and I may not agree much on policy, but that hasn’t stopped us from becoming fast friends and working closely to encourage a spirit of collegiality within our freshman class,” said Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican.

“Tim and I have organized a series of social events and have also encouraged our colleagues to attend the maiden speeches of all freshman senators. These baby steps across the aisle might not seem like much, but they are critical in building trust within the Senate — and only with trust can we begin to break the gridlock,” Fischer said.

Kaine, a Richmond resident, served on the City Council and as mayor before he was elected lieutenant governor and then governor, serving from 2006 to 2010. Kaine also served as President Barack Obama’s first chairman of the Democratic National Committee from January 2009 to April 2011.

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., who preceded Kaine as Virginia’s governor, said he has not met anyone who doesn’t believe his junior senator is “a good guy.”

“People like Tim,” said Warner, a friend of Kaine’s. “That kind of interpersonal reaction from his colleagues will pay great benefits to him.”

Kaine’s first legislative proposals were carefully drafted to garner easy Republican support.

The Troop Talent Act of 2013, which would help veterans get the credentials to use their military skills as civilians, found 10 co-sponsors in the Senate, from both parties, and nearly 70 in the House of Representatives.

“This is a bill that can have a great effect on the way-too-high rate of unemployment among veterans,” Warner said. “I’ve talked about this issue and I should have done it two years ago. I give him kudos for it.”

Kaine’s effort to reauthorize the American Battlefield Protection Program, which would help preserve historic Civil War sites, was co-sponsored by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.

“I feel like one of the weaknesses here is there isn’t enough effort to compromise,” Kaine said. “So I want to do things where I feel like I can promote compromise. The first bill is something that I care deeply about, something that’s important to Virginia, but I also knew that I would likely be able to find strong Republican support for the bill,” he said.

With his foot in the door, Kaine says he is ready to take on more responsibilities in the Senate.

On Wednesday, after attending a prayer meeting with the Faith and Politics Reflection group — he alternates between two weekly prayer groups — Kaine headed to the Dirksen Senate Office Building for a meeting with representatives of the Timken Co., a steel manufacturer with a branch south of Lynchburg.

“In between the committee meetings and floor activity there is almost always a stream of people from Virginia who want to talk about an issue or two,” he said.

Kaine’s office space — a windowless room with a new, blue carpet — is temporary. On June 3, the office will move to its permanent location at the adjacent Russell complex, the oldest of the Senate office buildings.

Kaine has regional offices in Richmond, Manassas, Virginia Beach, Danville, Roanoke and Norton, operating on a total annual budget of $2.3 million. The Washington office is the biggest, with a staff of 23, including legislative, administrative, communications and scheduling officers.

During most weeks, Kaine works in the nation’s capital from Monday until about noon Friday. “I usually drive back on time to do a little work in the Richmond office at the end of the day,” he said.

Kaine keeps an apartment two blocks away from the Senate offices, which he calls “the smallest apartment in D.C.” In the mornings, he is out the door by 6:15, rarely making it back home before 9 p.m.

At 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Kaine, flanked by Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., chaired his first meeting of the International Development and Foreign Assistance Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations panel.

“I want to use my perch on the Foreign Relations Committee to make sure we have vigorous American diplomacy, but to also make sure we do the things that will help American businesses to find customers abroad,” Kaine said after the meeting.

The committee also allows Kaine, who speaks fluent Spanish and spent a year in Honduras while taking a break from law school at Harvard, to work in what he calls his “little niche” — the Americas.

“Most senators are interested in East-West, and we need to be. I’m very interested in North-South, and there are not a lot of senators who spend a lot of time in there,” he said.

The United States exports three times as much to Latin America as to China, Kaine said. “I think we have enormous opportunities in the Americas, some of which we are not even fully realizing,” he said.

His home state is a key player in foreign trade, Kaine said.

“Virginia has been so benefited by a port that enables (us) to export, and with an airport that connects us with cities around the globe,” he said. “Our global reach has been part of the reason why Virginia has been economically more successful than most states.”

At noon, Kaine jumps on the subway that connects the Senate office buildings with the Capitol.

When Kaine walks into the Senate chamber, there is little activity on the floor — which is not unusual, as most senators attend committee meetings throughout the day or work from their offices, connected to the floor action by hotlines and televisions.

Kaine sits at Desk C. Among the lawmakers who previously used the desk are Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., and John Kerry of Massachusetts, currently the secretary of state.

Addressing the Senate, Kaine — who previously urged the Senate to pass a budget for the first time in four years — asks for unanimous consent to go to conference on the Senate’s budget resolution, prompting a parliamentary response from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a potential presidential contender in 2016.

Rubio asks that “the senator from Virginia modify his request (so) that it not be in order for the Senate to consider a conference report that included reconciliation instructions to raise the debt limit.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, chimes in, defending Kaine and blasting Senate Republicans for blocking the Senate budget from going to conference.

“For four years, I sat here and beat up on the majority leader,” Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., “for his failure to bring a budget to the floor of this Senate,” McCain said. “(This year) we brought a budget to the floor. We spent many, many hours on all kinds of amendments, and now we can’t go to conference unless we agree not to raise the debt ceiling.”

After an hourlong exchange, Kaine heads back to the Dirksen Building for a Budget Committee meeting.

“The unfortunate thing is,” Kaine says, as he struts down the hallways back to his office, “they (Republicans) push us to come up with a budget, and then they do everything they can to block it.”

Later, Warner joins him for a radio interview to introduce Kaine’s third legislative proposal, a bill to allow offshore energy leases off the coast of Virginia, a measure which Warner co-sponsors.

Before a meeting with representatives of United Autoworkers at 4 p.m., Kaine makes time to discuss his next steps.

“I have really gotten lucky with my committees,” he said. “I’m on three committees, so most of my work will be kind of within that space.”

Kaine said he is pleased that the Senate passed a budget.

“Now we are advocating for meaningful conference and compromise,” he said.

Defense will remain high on his list, Kaine said.

“This is a matter that is usually very important to Virginia, and it is important to me personally,” said Kaine, whose son is a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

“So many Virginians are veterans, or military families, or active in service, so I am going to work heavily on armed services issues,” he said.

“The issue that I am starting with is veterans’ unemployment, but the big-picture issue is are we safer as a country and are we preparing for tomorrow’s challenges, not just planning for yesterday’s,” he said.

So far, Kaine has caused little controversy in the Senate. Pushing for legislation that benefits national defense and that is prone to bipartisan support, the Virginian has played it safe.

But Kaine said it might not always be that way.

“I’m sure that at some point I may put in a bill where I’ll get no supporter, no co-sponsor from the other side,” he said.

Then he is off to the next meeting.

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