Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Tina Smith (D-MN) sent a letter to the Biden Administration regarding the mounting humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. As the country confronts an ongoing humanitarian crisis exacerbated by armed conflict and climate chaos, the senators urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrat...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Senator Todd Young (R-IN) released the following statement after legislation to end legacy admissions became law in Virginia. The legislation mirrors the senators’ bipartisan Merit-Based Educational Reforms and Institutional Transparency Act (MERIT Act), which would end the practice of colleges and universities giving preferential treatment in the admissions proce...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine applauded congressional passage of legislation to avert a partial government shutdown and fund key of the government for Fiscal Year 2024. This legislation funds major priorities across several federal departments, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as their related agencies. Specifically, this legislation includes more than $...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, cosponsored a bipartisan bill to increase access to job counseling services for spouses of members of the Armed Forces who died while on active duty through the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program. The program, which is housed within the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service at the Department of Labor, currently provides every state with funding to hire specialists who provide individuali...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement regarding tonight’s State of the Union address: “The State of the Union is always an important day. It was extra special this year because I was joined by Elizabeth Carr, who helped me shine a light on the need to protect reproductive freedom across the country, including IVF access. I’m glad President Biden emphasized that in his speech tonight—and that he laid out a vision for how we can build on our economic pro...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced two witnesses from Virginia at a HELP hearing regarding the need to reauthorize the Older Americans Act (OAA) , which provides nutritional services, family caregiver support, long-term care programs, and more to older Americans, helping them age in their homes and communities. The population of older Americans is growing rapidly, which is increasi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine applauded the Senate Judiciary Committee’s approval of Jasmine Yoon to become a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Virginia (WDVA). Yoon was nominated by President Biden after the senators recommended her to fill the position when Chief Judge Michael F. Urbanski assumes senior status in July 2024. The senators spoke at her confirmation hearing in February. Her nomination will now be considered by the full Senate. “...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), introduced the Divided Families National Registry Act, bipartisan legislation to help reunite Korean Americans who have been separated from their relatives in North Korea since the Korean War. For Korean Americans who have immigrated to the U.S. since the war, there is no official channel to reunite with family members still in North Korea. Virginia is home t...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, a former civil rights attorney, have joined 48 of their colleagues in introducing the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The legislation would update and restore critical safeguards included in the original Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court weakened crucial tenets of that landmark law prohibiting discriminatory voting practices. “The Voting Rights Act was one of the most pivotal and transformative laws of the 20th c...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chair of the SFRC Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, issued the following statement underscoring the need for the Peruvian Congress to respect judicial independence. “We are deeply disappointed and concerned by the Peruvian Congress’ decision to move forward with its efforts to purge the country’s autonomous National Board of Justice (JNJ) by seeking to ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, announced that Elizabeth Carr will join him as his guest at Thursday’s State of the Union address. Carr was the first person in the United States born via in-vitro fertilization (IVF). She was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1981. Carr’s attendance at the State of the Union follows a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that has already led to restricted access to IVF in A...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Coons (D-DE), James Lankford (R-OK), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a bipartisan resolution to express support for international religious freedom as a fundamental right and a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. This introduction comes amid concern over increased attacks on religious freedom worldwide. “The Virginia General Assembly passed a statute in 1786 that became the basis of religious freedom in America. Because of our example, m...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) released the following statement after the Senate approved a stopgap funding bill to fund some parts of the government through March 8 and others through March 22. This bill will keep the government open by reauthorizing spending at Fiscal Year 2023 levels. “Passing a stopgap funding bill is undoubtedly better than shutting down the government, but what would be really great is if Congress could pass a real spending bill,...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Guatemala is one of seven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Today, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), John Boozman (R-AR), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Steve Daines (R-MT) sent a letter to President Bernardo Arévalo urging him to not succumb to pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and instead continue to recognize and support Taiwan. “In the face of...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $1,900,000 in federal funding for three projects in Bland, Stuart, and Lee County, Virginia. The funding, courtesy of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), will go towards building a dental clinic in Bland, investing in downtown revitalization projects in Stuart, and improving water service to 38 homes in Lee County. “Communities across Virginia have tremendous momentum, ideas, and initiative for project...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine issued the following statement regarding President Biden’s trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, which comes on the heels of congressional Republicans’ decision to kill bipartisan legislation to secure the border and tackle the fentanyl crisis: “It’s clear that President Biden is committed to addressing our challenges at the border. But he shouldn’t have to do it alone. I’m deeply frustrated that congressional Republicans refuse to act because they’d ra...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine—a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee—delivered a speech on the Senate floor in support of the Access to Family Building Act, legislation he cosponsored to protect Americans’ right to access in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology services. Kaine’s remarks followed Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith’s (R-MS) objection to passing the bill through a procedural method that requires una...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement after the unanimous Senate passage of their legislation to rename a federal building in Roanoke, VA the “Reuben E. Lawson Federal Building” in honor of the life and legacy of civil rights lawyer Reuben Lawson. The senators introduced the legislation on December 6, 2023, on what would have been Lawson’s 103rd birthday. “We are thrilled that our legislation to honor Reuben Lawson’s immense contrib...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Roger Marshall (R-KS), members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced a bipartisan resolution designating March 18, 2024 as Health Workforce Well-Being Day of Awareness. The date was selected to coincide with the day that the senators’ bipartisan Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Act was signed into law by President Biden in 2022. “Our health care providers protect our health and well-being ...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, cosponsored the Access to Family Building Act, legislation to protect Americans’ right to access in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology services. Kaine’s announcement follows a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that has already led to restricted access to IVF. “The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has opened the floodgates fo...Continue Reading