Thursday, April 25, 2013
"Virginia's got to have the ability to collect all sales tax revenue," says Sen. Mark Warner, who is co-sponsor of a bill that would allow local government to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases.
Consumers across the country increasingly make purchases online, in some cases doing so to avoid paying sales tax. When that happens, local governments like Fairfax County miss out on much-needed revenue to help pay for roads, schools and police. One group estimates Virginia is missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars each year — $422 million in FY2012 — according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The group says in all, states will lose $23 billion in 2012. That could change soon. Virginia's two Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine voted in the majority (70-24) this week to proceed with a vote on the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013. The legislation will allow state and local governments to require Internet …
Monday, March 18, 2013
Social media will help him stay in touch with constituents.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine launched his official Senate office Twitter and Facebook accounts Monday. The accounts will provide constituents with updates on Kaine’s daily activities in the Senate, travels across Virginia, information on agency assistance and constituent service updates, according to a news release from his office. “I’m excited to reach out to Virginians through Facebook and Twitter to show them what I’m working on in Washington and across the Commonwealth,” said Kaine. “I hope they don’t hesitate to communicate with my office through social media to share their opinions on issues, seek assistance with federal agencies, and give any advice they have for me in the Senate.” The Senate office Twitter account is @SenKaineOffice and …
Monday, February 25, 2013
Sequestration could affect every traveler at airports nationwide, say U.S. Reps. Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine speaking from Reagan National Airport Monday.
Federal sequestration could mean fewer flights and increased wait times at airports, Virginia lawmakers said Monday. Further, it threatens to close small- to mid-sized airports across the country. The massive, indiscriminate spending cuts Congress put in motion to force a budget compromise would cut $600 million from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) if they go into effect Friday. Jobs on the Line Under sequestration, the FAA would have to furlough employees for 11 days — with as much as 10 percent of its workforce furloughed on any given day — and the agency would be unable to hire replacements for the 30 percent of its workers eligible to retire. Up to 2,200 air traffic controllers would be furloughed, forcing airports to reduce …
Friday, February 15, 2013
Virginia’s junior senator calls sequestration ‘abdication of responsibility.’
The looming sequestration slated to cut military spending across the board will also cost Virginia about $48 million in federal funds for pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade education, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine told educators Friday in Alexandria. Speaking to local school officials and state education advocates at the Campagna Center in Old Town, Kaine, a Democrat, said the cuts would also eliminate 7,000 Head Start slots in the state. If the March 1 sequester goes through, 10,000 teacher jobs would be at risk nationwide, as well as funding for up to 7,200 special education teachers, aides and staff, according to Kaine’s office. Kaine, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said he maintained hope sequestration could be avoided. “I hear a …
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Defense contractors speaking with Sen. Tim Kaine on Monday say federal agencies are preparing for potential cuts and acting as if they've already happened.
About 30 representatives of defense contractors from Northern Virginia met Monday with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine for a roundtable discussion and agreed on one fairly simple message to Congress: Make a decision. It might be funny if nearly 200,000 Virginia jobs weren't on the line and the very idea of sequestration hadn't come to epitomize the dysfunction on Capitol Hill. If lawmakers fail to reach a compromise, then $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts, half to the defense industry, will go into effect. The latest deadline is March 1. The contractors talked about the various ways the threat of sequestration was "paralyzing" the industry: Companies are delaying orders whenever they can. They aren't hiring to fill vacant positions. They aren't …
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Former Sen. John Warner introduces Secretary of Defense nominee Sen. Chuck Hagel at Armed Services Committee hearing.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine Thursday questioned Secretary of Defense nominee Sen. Chuck Hagel during his confirmation hearing on issues affecting Northern Virginia's economy, the nation’s security, and how service members can be successful after leaving active duty, according to a news release from Kaine's office. Long-time member of the Armed Services Committee, John Warner, introduced Hagel at the hearing. During his opening comments, Kaine said Warner, a former Secretary of the Navy and U.S. Senator from Virginia who served as the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was the best ally Hagel could have. “Today’s hearing with Senator Hagel was productive and thorough and the endorsement of former Senator John Warner cannot be overstated,” …
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Senators urge "legislative leaders" to "do the right thing."
Virginia's U.S. Senators Mark Warner (D) and Tim Kaine (D) have condemned the action taken Monday by Virginia's Senate Republicans, to redraw the commonwealth's Senate districts in favor of Republicans, reportedly to help African Americans with representation in the General Assembly. "On a day when Americans celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday and inaugurated Barack Obama as President, Virginia Senate Republicans took advantage of the absence of civil rights leader Sen. Henry Marsh to push through a hyper-partisan change to Virginia's already gerrymandered legislative district map," the two said in a joint statement. "This is not the way we should be conducting the people’s business in Virginia. We are encouraged by Governor …
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Kaine said he is "rested and ready."
Tim Kaine was sworn in Thursday as the newest Senator from Virginia. Vice President Joe Biden presided over the mock ceremony after the official one on the Senate floor, and Anne Holton, Kaine's wife, proudly held a bible as her husband was sworn in as Virginia's junior Senator at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. "I feel wonderful — rested and ready," said Kaine at a reception in his honor at the Hart Senate Office Building. "Life doesn't happen unless you are able to listen and compromise. With this beginning of the 113th Congress, the Senate has 15 newcomers...and I've watched group dynamics just as you have, and when you have that much change it opens the windows and rescrambles assumptions." Kaine then quoted from Abraham Lincoln'…
Oh Yeah?
9:42 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
Sequestration has happened. The sun still came up. My coffee still brewed. Maybe the world isn't really going to end after all? more ›