In The News

The Senate blueprint for a new defense budget cleared committee Thursday, and some provisions are good news for shipbuilding giant Huntington Ingalls Industries. It would fund the mid-life overhaul of aircraft carrier USS George Washington, due to arrive at Newport News Shipbuilding in 2017. It would also allow advance funding for the next scheduled overhaul, the USS John C. Stennis. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act for 2016. ...Continue Reading

Did Speaker of the House John Boehner’s comment suggesting Congress not act on President Barack Obama’s reluctantly-offered request for an authorization for the use of military force make at least some of Virginia’s Congressional delegation bristle a bit? After all, Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Scott Rigell (whose Hampton-to-the Eastern Shore district has about the heaviest concentration of the Americans we send, and have sent, in harm’s way) have been pretty firm on the need ...Continue Reading

Virginia’s original inhabitants are seeking formal recognition from the federal government, but they face opposition from casino interests and other groups. The Pamunkey, whose most famous member was Pocahontas, and other Native American tribes in Virginia want federal recognition that would open the door for housing, education and other financial assistance. The casino giant MGM, which is building a gaming resort on the Maryland side of Washington, D.C.’s National Harbor, is urging ...Continue Reading

On May 7, I spoke on the Senate floor to recognize an anniversary. “Today marks the completion of nine months of America’s war against ISIL,” I told my colleagues. “Tomorrow, May 8, starts the 10th month of this war.” As I spoke, I reminded my fellow senators of all that our country has sacrificed since the United States began its military mission against ISIL. We have deployed thousands of troops to the region, including the Norfolk-based Roosevelt Carrier Strike G...Continue Reading

Virginia businesses and farmers rely upon key assets such as the Port of Virginia and Dulles International Airport to export goods and services totaling nearly $38 billion in 2012. More than 7,600 companies exported from Virginia locations in 2013, more than four-fifths from companies with fewer than 500 employees. In 2014, 11.7 million jobs in the United States were supported by trade, up by 18 percent since 2009. More than 90,000 jobs in Virginia are supported by goods exports. Meanwhile, work...Continue Reading

President Barack Obama’s fast-track trade bill is officially back on track in the Senate, after easily topping the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster and open debate. The trade bill will face amendment votes next week and possibly continue beyond the Memorial Day recess. The 65-33 vote came after Senate Democrats filibustered the bill Tuesday, spurring a furious salvage operation from the president and Senate leaders. Before moving to the bill Thursday, the Senate passed two...Continue Reading

The House of Representative easily passed legislation today that gives Congress a chance to review any nuclear deal with Iran, as The Chicago Tribune reports here. It had already passed the Senate, and president Obama is expected to sign it. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, was pretty heavily involved in this bill, and put out this statement following the vote: “I’m thrilled that overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress have now committed to a constructive process for ...Continue Reading

No one doubts the so-called Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL or whatever it calls itself is a grave threat to the stability of the Middle East and, indirectly, to U.S. national security interests. From its gruesome beheadings of Western captives in the deserts of Syria to the mass decapitations of Coptic Christians on the beaches of Libya and wannabe terrorists in Garland, Texas, ISIS is about as scary as they come these days. Rising last year from the ashes of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the disas...Continue Reading

President Obama met with Senate Democrats on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to break an impasse over his controversial trade agenda. The president huddled with 10 pro-trade Democrats shortly after members of his own party dealt him a stinging defeat in the Senate on one of his top agenda items: a trade promotion authority bill (TPA). "They had a constructive session and discussed the need to advance legislation to give the president the authority he needs to complete negotiations on the Trans-P...Continue Reading

Senate Democrats are in full revolt against the president and his trade agenda, jeopardizing a legacy-defining pact strengthening the economic ties of the United States and 11 countries around the Pacific Rim. Some senior Republicans already are pointing fingers at Democrats for opposing a preliminary vote simply to move on to the bill. When asked if he had confidence that the Senate would get the requisite 60 votes Tuesday to advance, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a principal n...Continue Reading

Foreign policy and national security define the federal government’s ultimate obligations. Democrat Tim Kaine seems intent on establishing himself as an indispensable senator. Last week, he assailed his colleagues for not asserting congressional prerogatives regarding the waging of war against the Islamist State. His remark came as the Senate was approving legislation allowing Congress to review a nuclear deal with Iran. He conceded that the Senate had focused on Iran during recent weeks b...Continue Reading

WINCHESTER — Tabitha Diaz and her children will likely wake up in her van the morning of Mother’s Day. Making slightly more than minimum wage, she says she is unable to find affordable housing. But a federal bill co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine , D-Va., could help Diaz and people in similar circumstances. Kaine  is one of 32 Democratic senators to join a bill sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called Raise the Wage Act, that would raise the federal minimum wage in incr...Continue Reading

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate, with a 98-1 vote, approved the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which gives Congress the chance to review a future nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. While it might be tempting to dismiss this overwhelmingly bipartisan vote as an accident or an aberration, we hope that it signals a reemergence of the Senate, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) in particular, as an indispensable player in the foreign-policy arena. Foreign Relations Committ...Continue Reading

ORANGE COUNTY, Va (WVIR) - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine visited the town of Orange Wednesday as part of his statewide tour focusing on improving Virginia's economy. Sen. Kaine met with county supervisors and members of the chamber of commerce before touring several businesses in town. Leaders suggested that the senator consider reforming railway shipping safety regulations, increase training for trade jobs, and improving high-speed internet access in the area. "You want your citizens at home to be abl...Continue Reading

Older, puncture-prone tankers hauling crude oil would be taxed to pay for new rail safety measures under a bill backed by Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. The bill, announced Thursday on the anniversary of Lynchburg’s downtown derailment, attaches a fee to the controversial DOT-111 tankers used to move crude oil, ethanol and other flammable liquids across the country. The fee wouldn’t extend to newer CPC-1232 cars — the model that ruptured and caught fire in Lynchburg — ...Continue Reading

A year after a train carrying millions of gallons of crude oil derailed in downtown Lynchburg, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine co-sponsored legislation today that would apply a fee to every old-model rail car transporting highly volatile crude from the Bakken shale fields in North Dakota. The proposed annual fee of $175 per rail car would raise money that would be used to pay the clean-up costs of rail accidents involving Class 3 flammable liquids, provide training grants for local emerg...Continue Reading

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott will be in the thick of a Democratic push on the federal minimum wage, sponsoring legislation to increase the floor $12 over the next five years. Democrats plan to roll out the particulars this afternoon in a press conference with the U.S. secretary of labor and Democratic minority leaders from both chambers. Scott, D-Newport News, will sponsor the House version. The bill would bump the minimum wage up 75 cents next year, then another dollar a year to hit $12 by 2020. It's ...Continue Reading

There’s much to love about the Old Dominion: its history, its heritage, its natural beauty. But with growth and progress, those natural treasures of the commonwealth come under increased pressure from development. That’s why an initiative Gov. Terry McAuliffe launched last week is so important. “Virginia Treasures” is designed to protect, in perpetuity, ecologically sensitive sites, lands that harbor endangered or threatened species and locations such as boat landings and...Continue Reading

There's likely to be some political posturing over an Iran nuclear agreement as the Senate considers giving Congress review authority this week, but Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is confident the measure won't be derailed. Kaine has been a leader pushing for congressional oversight, despite his longtime support of President Barack Obama. He's working closely with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and ranking Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland on how to respond to any amendme...Continue Reading

AFTER HOUSE Republican leaders announced last week that they would not act on President Obama’s request for an authorization of military force against the Islamic State, critics asked a fair question: How come legislators who insisted on congressional review of the pending nuclear accord with Iran see no need to vote on the military campaign now underway in Iraq and Syria? The obvious answer is that Republican leaders are eager to go on record opposing the deal with Tehran but have little ...Continue Reading