In The News

This week's announcement by President Barack Obama that the United States will commit an additional 250 special forces to Syria has been met with condemnation from Russia, Syria's ally, and a prominent Democratic senator. Obama made the announcement Sunday in Germany, alongside German ChancellorAngela Merkel, saying the forces are needed to target and kill Islamic Stateterrorists. But as was pointed out by both the Russians, who are backing the government of President&nb...Continue Reading

Legislation recently introduced by U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine could ensure rural Virginia hospitals receive fair Medicare reimbursements — a move receiving praise by leaders from both Danville Regional Medical Center and Centra Health. “Delivering quality care has always been a priority at Danville Regional Medical Center,” Danville Regional Medical Center CEO Alan Larson said in a statement. “The proposed legislation would help provide the resources needed t...Continue Reading

Talking to her doctor about what to do when the cost of her life-saving medicine jumped more than 14-fold was simply horrifying, retired William and Mary librarian Berna Heyman told a U.S. Senatepanel Wednesday. "I had been very stable, living a good life," she said in response to Sen.Tim Kaine's question about her decision to go off the Valeant Pharmaceuticals drug Syprine. "I felt like I was taking a chance and I didn't feel like I had an option other than to take that chance." Heyman is ...Continue Reading

When Judge Merrick Garland walked into Sen. Tim Kaine's office late one afternoon, the Virginia Democrat asked the Supreme Court nominee what number this meeting was for him.   "I don't know," Garland replied as cameras clicked away, capturing the pair moving toward the couch in Kaine office. He recovered quickly and quipped, "Number one!"   The chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has been on a whirlwind tour of Senate offices ever since President Bara...Continue Reading

We welcome the U.S. Senate’s passage last week of the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015. The welcomed, and logical measure, seeks to address the nation’s energy opportunities and challenges with the help of fossil fuels. While far from perfect, the proposed legislation does prioritize an all-of-the-above energy policy and includes important amendments for clean-coal technology and keeping coal competitive. Area lawmakers supporting the overall legislation included U.S. Sen. Joe...Continue Reading

Faith is often worn as a badge on the campaign trail, with candidates quoting the Bible and endorsing policies that appeal to religious voters.   Three deeply religious senators spoke on Wednesday at a panel discussion on Capitol Hill about the interplay between religion and politics, and how their faith shaped their personal and political lives.   The senators worked through assumptions people make about them.   “One stereotype would be, 'I’m a r...Continue Reading

Some opponents of a new independent commission to close military bases have recently proposed the Pentagon instead pick the facilities it doesn't want and ask Congress to approve the choices through the annual budget process. But two of the Army's top installations officials say that approach would spark the kind of ugly political battles the Base Realignment and Closure Commission was designed to minimize — and potentially be an economic calamity for the communities that get on ...Continue Reading

El Senador por Virginia, Tim Kaine se reunió esta mañana con una familia inmigrante de origen Boliviano para hablar de las ventajas de la aprobación de la Acción Ejecutiva en la Corte Suprema.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who was instrumental in getting a bipartisan bill through Congress in 2014 to reauthorize and expand the American Battlefield Protection Program, on Friday visited one of the battlefields that has benefited from his efforts. Kaine met with officials from the National Park Service and Civil War Trust at the Fredericksburg battlefield and was shown the 25-acre site that will be purchased using a recently received matching grant of $1.2 million from the ABPP. Later in t...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine did more than visit Shenandoah National Park on Monday. The Democratic Virginia senator hiked to the summit of Stony Man Trail during the morning, spending more than a hour climbing up and walking down on a windy and cool day. While Kaine's visit was partly pleasure, he had a serious purpose on Monday. An admirer of national parks since his youth in Missouri, Kaine is hopeful he can persuade Senate colleagues on the Budget Committee to appropriate additional funds for backlogged ...Continue Reading

A U.S. Senate bill that provides money to help save lives in prescription drug overdoses was passed by committee Thursday. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed the bipartisan co-prescribing Saves Lives Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). If passed, the act would encourage physicians to co-prescribe the life-saving drug Naloxone alongside opioid prescriptions and make Naloxone more widely available in federal health s...Continue Reading

Four engineering students from Warren County schools had the opportunity to present their projects to U.S. senators on Capitol Hill at a forum earlier this month. Career and Technical Education Coordinator Jane Baker and Blue Ridge Technical Center teacher Tom Breed accompanied seniors Zachary Atkins, Zachary Chambers, Hunter Layman, and Karl Taubenberger to the Russell Senate Office Building on March 1. There, the students presented inventive solutions they’d engineered for everyday probl...Continue Reading

In recent years we’ve commemorated the English and Spanish heritage of our nation’s founding. In 2007 we marked the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Va., by English colonists. In 2015 we celebrated the 450th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine, Fla. Both the English and Spanish commemorations included activities sponsored by federal commissions, which were voted on and passed by Congress. August of 2019 will mark 400 years since the first documented arri...Continue Reading

A federal bill aiming to prevent overdose deaths is now heading to the Senate floor. The bill, sponsored by United States Senator Tim Kaine (D) of Virginia, would make a life-saving drug more widely available. Kaine said this bill would help get Naloxone, a safe and effective antidote to opioids, into the homes of people at-risk of overdose. This bill called the “Co-Prescribing Saves Lives Act” encourages physicians to co-prescribe Naloxone alongside opioid prescriptions. It also mak...Continue Reading

In a rare showing of bipartisanship, the U.S. Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act last week by an overwhelming margin of 94-1. The critically important measure now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives where it demands immediate attention and passage in the Republican-controlled chamber. The proposed measure designates more than $300 million over five years in federal grants to state and local programs aimed at strengthening treatment for addicts while expanding preve...Continue Reading

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., has gathered bipartisan support for a funding measure to recalibrate how high schools educate children to meet the career and technical education demands of a 21st-century workforce. Along with fellow Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Kaine today will introduce the CTE Excellence and Equity Act, which would provide $500 million in federal funding to schools in the form of competitive grants to encourage integration ...Continue Reading

Publishers and leaders from the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a trade group of more than 200 Black-owned media companies, and from the 400-plus member National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) recently held a historic three-day summit in Washington, D.C. that featured an all-star roster of speakers, meetings on Capitol Hill, and the enshrinement of the late Gerri Warren into The Gallery of Distinguished Black Publishers. “I think we had a very productive week...Continue Reading

African–Americans have been slaves or second-class citizens for most of their nearly 400-year history in this country, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine said Sunday during a Black History Month event in Spotsylvania County. It was only during the 1960s that the Civil Rights Act required equality, the Virginia Democrat continued. “But that guarantee of legal equality, awful late in the 400-year history, hasn’t translated into equality in the social sphere, hasn’t translated into equali...Continue Reading

If there were any doubt, Senator Harry Reid clearly has one last, good fight in him. Instead of cruising to retirement after securing a two-year budget deal last fall and essentially bequeathing his leader’s suite to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, Mr. Reid, Democrat of Nevada, is waging war with Republicans over the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Though the battle is decidedly uphill, it is one that suppor...Continue Reading

 It wasn’t until a 2013 stop in Southwest Virginia that U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., realized the full magnitude of the prescription-drug abuse epidemic. Kaine, also a former governor of Virginia, was prepared to talk about economic development as part of a round-table forum in Tazewell County. A few hours later he met with members of the Daily Telegraph’s editorial board. Kaine was surprised when both sessions ultimately turned into a prolonged discussion about the growing drug-...Continue Reading