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It’s been clear since Obama’s reelection that Hillary Clinton would run for the White House in 2016, and the speculation over her running mate has been going on almost as long. For instance, on this site in May 2014 I penned the piece “Kaine Is Able, and Warner Is Too,” suggesting that both Virginia senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, would be strong VP candidates. It’s no surprise that both have now appeared on the New York Times short list. After considering the pros and cons of each person, I feel confident predicting that Clinton/Kaine will be the Democrats’ 2016...

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told radio host John Fredericks on Thursday that the Obama administration’s strategy in Syria is “a joke,” and called for humanitarian zones to be set up inside the war-torn country. “In Syria, the strategy’s a joke. You know, we do these one off actions like trying to train 30 people and put them back into a roiling civil war involving millions, no surprise, they get swallowed up in the civil war, killed, or captured, or defect immediately.”

RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced a bill Tuesday seeking to crack down on gun dealers selling firearms to criminals. Kaine's Responsible Transfer of Firearms Act would make federally licensed and private gun dealers liable for selling firearms to individuals who are prohibited from owning them. In a statement, Kaine said gun laws enforced by the federal government have done little to stem unnecessary violence. He said gun dealers should take reasonable steps to make sure they are not selling to an inadequate customer, but did not specify what those steps would be. Kaine's...

President Barack Obama’s Iran deal looks increasingly likely to survive a challenge from congressional Republicans after several swing Democrats said they would back the deal just as the Senate sped toward recess on Wednesday. Minutes after Senate leaders locked in an agreement to begin debating the nuclear deal on Sept. 8, Independent Maine Sen. Angus King came to the floor to announce his support for the agreement. King’s decision will make it hard for GOP opponents to block the lifting of legislative sanctions when the Senate votes no later than Sept. 17. Story Continued Below “This is the most difficult...

Senate Republicans concede they are not likely to have enough votes to overturn President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran unless they can swing a key Democratic voice against the accord. They’re setting their sights on Hillary Clinton, vowing to tie her to the deal in hopes of pressuring her to oppose it. GOP leaders need 67 votes to override Obama’s expected veto and keep sanctions on Iran in place. The administration has not yet announced an accord but lawmakers expect it to come soon. “It could be a good policy strategy. It’s not going to be hard to come up...

In the final hours before the House votes on a new leadership-concocted scheme to sneak Obamatrade past the American public, it’s been revealed that pro-Obamatrade forces are now aiming to sneak a renewal of the highly controversial Export Import Bank into the deal to secure Senate passage later if the House passes it on Thursday. “I and all the other members there are looking for a guarantee … for a deal to be good it’s got to have enforcement, TAA, I think it’s got to have Ex-Im reauthorization,” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat who’s angling for this in the deal,...

The latest scorecard from the American Conservative Union is out, and the voters of Virginia might want to file a complaint about truth in advertising with the press corps. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner have routinely been portrayed in news reports as "moderates" and "centrists." But after two years in the Senate, Tim Kaine has a perfect zero on the conservative scale. Mark Warner has a lifetime score of 10.33 percent conservative, but his last two annual scores have been a 4 and an 8. They could be mistaken for Barbara Mikulski. Far-left is middle of the road on...

Twenty-seven senators want President Obama to block federal agencies and contractors from asking job applicants about prior criminal convictions. The senators, including 26 Democrats and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), want Obama to take executive action to "ban the box," referring to a question on job applications that asks if an applicant has any convictions. "We ask you to require federal contractors and agencies to refrain from asking job applicants about prior convictions until later in the hiring process," they said in a letter to Obama on Monday. "This policy would eliminate unnecessary barriers to employment for all job...

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said that the White House has “taken the position” that “Congress shouldn’t be weighing in” on an Iran deal on Wednesday’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC.

Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) California Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) — “I am disappointed Speaker Boehner chose to irresponsibly interject politics into what has long been a strong and bipartisan relationship between the United States and Israel. As President Obama has noted, it is inappropriate for a Head of State to address Congress just two weeks ahead of their election. I agree that Congress should not be used as a prop in Israeli election campaigns, so I intend to watch the speech on TV in my office.” Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) — “Rep. McNerney is not...

A full list of the Democrats who have confirmed they're missing the speech follows: SENATE - 4 members Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii) HOUSE - 26 members Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) Rep. G.K. Butterfield (N.C.) Rep. Andre Carson (Ind.) Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.) Rep. Peter DeFazio (Ore.) Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.) Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.) Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.) Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.) Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas) Rep. Barbara Lee (Calif.) Rep. John Lewis (Ga.)...

The Dem Congressmen Boycotting Netanyahu are the Same Old Hamas SupportersPosted By Daniel Greenfield On February 26, 2015 @ 6:02 pm In The Point | 12 Comments There are a lot of stories about the Dem members of Congress boycotting Netanyahu’s speech. But most of the names on the list are longtime opponents of the Jewish State.The boycott lists consists of two groups. Congressional Black Caucus members who are offended on Obama’s behalf and can smell racism anywhere.The other consists of opponents of Israel.It’s instructive to compare the list of boycotters to the 54 members of Congress who signed...

WASHINGTON — When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress in March, it is unclear whether everybody invited will actually show up. Democrats have criticized House Speaker John Boehner for circumventing the administration when he invited Netanyahu to speak, and the White House has already said Obama will not meet with him when he’s here. BuzzFeed News asked several Senate Democrats whether they planned on skipping the speech or not. Most said they either hadn’t thought about it or they hadn’t decided. But there were no hard answers in the negative. Only one senator definitively said...

Democrats hope to take back control of the Senate in 2016, but their plans could be complicated by potential retirements. The two Democratic senators most likely to retire are Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who represent both sides of the party’s ideological spectrum. Boxer, whose fourth term expires at the end of 2016, has a paltry $149,000 in her campaign account, less than almost every other senator facing election next year. As the nation’s most populous state, California is expensive to cover with advertising. If Boxer decides to run for reelection, she would face a major fundraising...

WASHINGTON—A handful of lawmakers are saying President Barack Obama must get congressional authorization for military action in Iraq, a vote that could exacerbate tensions between the branches and present members with a difficult vote just before the midterm elections. Mr. Obama's announcement of limited airstrikes last week aimed at slowing the advance of militants from the Islamic State toward the Kurdish city of Erbil initially triggered few complaints that he had usurped the power to declare war that Congress claims as its own. But with the president warning over the weekend that "I don't think we're going to solve this...

In 2006, nearly two years before the 2008 presidential election, I told my friend, then-Senator Barack Obama, that I would support him if he ran for the presidency. I was and am proud that I was one of his first supporters. I made my decision early because I knew something: He was the right person for the job, but getting there would be hard. And I figured that the sooner I started helping, the more helpful I would be. Today I’m announcing my support for Hillary Clinton for the same reason. If she decides to run – and I hope...

In his campaign for governor last fall, Terry McAuliffe adopted the straightforward slogan "Putting Jobs First" to convey to Virginia voters that, if elected, he would make the commonwealth's economy his first priority. Mr. McAuliffe's surrogates similarly touted the former Democratic moneyman's fiscal focus. Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine endorsed Mr. McAuliffe because, he said, "We want somebody who wakes up thinking about jobs, thinking about the economy, thinking about finding a great deal, thinking about training the workforce." "I know what Terry's priority is," Mr. Kaine continued. "It's economic opportunity for Virginia." Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/11/bauer-terry-mcauliffe-culture-warrior/#ixzz2ysZPPChy Follow us: @washtimes on...

US Senator Tim Kaine, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee, said he expects the coming presidential elections in Egypt to be impartial. During a meeting with a number of journalists at a Cairo hotel Thursday, Kaine denied that the US let down Egypt in its war against terrorism, highlighting that the relations between the two countries are strong and that Washington will support Egypt in the coming period. Responding to a question on the US stance regarding the candidature of Defense Minister Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in the presidential polls, Kaine said that there is no problem at all...

Democrats who oppose the Keystone XL pipeline have thousands of dollars invested in direct competitors to the company looking to build the pipeline, public records show. A recent environmental assessment by the State Department was seen as a step toward the pipeline’s approval, but Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) remains opposed to its construction. “In my view, there is now enough evidence to conclude that construction of this pipeline is not in America’s long-term interest,” Kaine said in a statement on the review. The freshman Democrat has between $15,000 and $50,000 invested in Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, according to his...

Two members of the Senate are pressing for significant changes to how presidents consult with Congress on sending the military into war. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., unveiled legislation on Thursday that would repeal the 1973 War Powers Resolution, often ignored by presidents of both parties, and replace it with a new law that requires greater consultation and a congressional vote within 30 days on any significant armed conflict. …