Tim Kaine

On January 31, 2006, Kaine gave the Democratic response to President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address. In it, Kaine criticized the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act for "wreaking havoc on local school districts"; criticized congressional Republicans for cutting student loan programs; and condemned as "reckless" Bush's spending increases and tax cuts.[56] Kaine praised bipartisan initiatives in Virginia "to make record investments in education" and to improve veterans' access to veterans' benefits.[56] Kaine criticized the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq War and treatment of U.S. soldiers; saying that "the American people were given inaccurate information about reasons for invading Iraq"; "our troops in Iraq were not given the best body armor or the best intelligence"; and "the administration wants to further reduce military and veterans' benefits."[56]

As governor, Kaine successfully protected 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) of Virginia land from development, fulfilling a promise that he made in 2005.[57][58] Kaine's conservation efforts focused on conservation easements (voluntary easements that preserve the private ownership of a piece of land while also permanently protecting it from development); a substantial Virginia land preservation tax credit encouraged easements.[59] From 2004 to 2009, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (a quasi-governmental entity set up in 1966 to preserve open land in the state) protected more land than it had in the previous forty years, a fact touted by Kaine as his term drew to a close.[59]

As governor, Kaine established the Climate Change Commission, a bipartisan panel to study climate change issues.[60] The panel was shuttered under Kaine's Republican successor, Governor Robert F. McDonnell, but was revived (as the Governor's Climate Change and Resiliency Update Commission) under McDonnell's successor, Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe.[60][61]

In 2008, Kaine supported a coal-fired power plant project in Wise County, clashing with environmentalists who opposed the project.[62][63]

In 2009, Kaine expressed support for tighter restrictions on mountaintop removal coal mining imposed by the Obama administration.[64]

In October 2006, Kaine signed an executive order banning smoking in all government buildings and state-owned cars as of January 1, 2007.[65] He signed legislation banning smoking in restaurants and bars, with some exceptions, in March 2009, making Virginia the first Southern state to do so.[66]

In 2007, the Republican-controlled Virginia General Assembly passed legislation, with "overwhelming bipartisan support," to require girls to receive the HPV vaccine (which immunizes recipients against a virus that causes cervical cancer) before entering high school.[67][68] Kaine expressed "some qualms" about the legislation and pushed for a strong opt-out provision,[67] ultimately signing a bill that included a provision allowing parents to opt out of the requirement without citing a reason.[68]

In 2007, Kaine secured increases in state funding for nursing in the Virginia General Assembly and announced a 10% salary increase for nursing faculty above the normal salary increase for state employees, plus additional funds for scholarships for nursing master's programs. The initiatives were aimed at addressing a shortage of practicing nurses.[69]

Following the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, in which 32 people were killed by Seung-Hui Cho, Kaine appointed an eight-member Virginia Tech Review Panel,[70] chaired by retired Virginia State Police superintendent W. Gerald Massengill, to probe the event.[71][72] The commission members included specialists in psychology, law, forensics and higher education as well as former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge.[71] The commission first met in May 2007,[71] and issued its findings and recommendations in August 2007.[70] Among other recommendations, the panel proposed many mental health reforms. Based on the panel's recommendations, Kaine proposed $42 million of investment in mental health programs and reforms, included "boosting access to outpatient and emergency mental health services, increasing the number of case managers and improving monitoring of community-based providers."[73] In April 2007, Kaine signed an executive order instructing state agencies to step up efforts to block gun sales to people involuntarily committed to inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment centers.[74] Kaine, who had been in Japan on a trade mission at the time of the shootings, received widespread praise for his quick return to the state and his handling of the issue.[75]

Among Kaine's greatest challenges as governor came during the 2008–09 economic crisis; the Washington Post wrote that "perhaps his greatest success was keeping the state running despite [the crisis]."[75] In the midst of the Great Recession, unemployment in Virginia remained lower than the national average.[76] During Kaine's tenure as governor, the unemployment rate in Virginia rose from 3.2% to 7.4%, a smaller increase than the national unemployment rate which rose from 4.7% to 9.9% during the same period.[76]

As governor, Kaine approved about $3.31 billion in general fund spending cuts, and after the end of Kaine's term in office, the Virginia General Assembly adopted about $1.33 billion in additional budget cuts that Kaine had recommended, for a total of $4.64 billion in cuts.[77] The Washington Post noted: "Unable to raise taxes and required by law to balance the budget, he was forced to make unpopular cuts that led to such things as shuttered highway rest stops and higher public university tuition."[75] Virginia was one of three states to earn the highest grade in terms of management in a report by the non-partisan Pew Center on the States.[78] Virginia took first place each year from 2006 to 2009 in the "Best States For Business" rankings published by Forbes magazine.[78]

Governor Kaine with U.S. senators
John Warner and George Allen

In July 2007, during the debate on the Silver Line of the Washington Metro through Tysons Corner, Kaine supported an elevated track solution in preference to a tunnel, citing costs and potential delays that would put federal funding at risk.[79]

In 2006, early in his term, Kaine pressed the general assembly to support a legislative package to ease severe traffic congestion by spending about $1 billion annually for highway construction, repairs to aging roads, mass transit, and other transportation projects. The money would raised through increases in taxes and fees that would have raised an estimated $4 billion in revenue over four years.[80][81][82] The Democratic-controlled Senate supported the plan, but the Republican-controlled House was ultimately unwilling to approve the taxes necessary to carry out the project, however, and the effort failed even after a special session of the legislature was called over the transportation-funding stalemate.[83][84][85]

In 2007, Republicans in the General Assembly passed their own transportation-funding bill. Rather than a statewide tax increase to finance the transportation improvements, as Kaine and most legislative Democrats favored, the Republican bill called for transportation funding "to come from borrowing $2.5 billion and paying the debt costs out of the general fund"; authorized local tax increase in Northern Virginia; increased fees and taxes on rental cars, commercial real estate, and hotels; and increased traffic infraction fines and driver's licenses fees.[86][87]

Kaine and most legislative Democrats opposed the Republican legislation, stating that it was inadequate to address traffic congestion and that the withdrawal of funds from the general fund would affect core services such as health care, law enforcement, and education.[87][88] Kaine ultimately signed a bill with amendments reflecting "concerns by local government officials and a bipartisan group of lawmakers who were concerned that the plan took too much money from the state's general fund."[89]

Under Kaine, participation in Virginia in early childhood education increased by 40.2% due to Kaine's expansion of the Virginia Preschool Initiative, which makes pre-kindergarten more accessible to four-year-olds from households close to the poverty line.[90] Kaine sought increases to the budget for preschool programs every year during his term as governor.[90] Virginia was rated as the best state to raise a child in a 2007 report by Education Week and the Pew Center on the States.[78]

Kaine made the following appointments to his Virginia Governor's Cabinet:[91]

• Chief of Staff — William Leighty (2006–2007), Wayne Turnage (2007–2010)
• Secretary of Administration – Viola Baskerville (2006–2010)
• Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry – Robert Bloxom (2006–2010)
• Secretary of Commerce and Trade – Patrick Gottschalk (2006–2010)
• Secretary of the Commonwealth – Katherine Hanley (2006–2010)
• Secretary of Education – Thomas R. Morris (2006–2010)
• Secretary of Finance – Jody Wagner (2006–2008), Ric Brown (2008–2010)
• Secretary of Health and Human Resources – Marilyn Tavenner (2006–2010)
• Secretary of Natural Resources – Preston Bryant (2006–2010)
• Secretary of Public Safety – John W. Marshall (2006–2010)
• Secretary of Technology – Aneesh Chopra (2006–2009), Leonard Pomata (2009–2010)
• Secretary of Transportation – Pierce Homer (2006–2010)
• Counselor to the Governor – Lawrence Roberts (2006-2009)
• Counselor to the Governor – Mark Rubin (2009-2010)
• Assistant for Commonwealth Preparedness – Robert P. Crouch (2006–2010)
• Senior Advisor for Workforce – Daniel G. LeBlanc (2006–2010)

As governor, Kaine made a number of appointments to the Virginia state courts. Kaine made two appointments[lower-alpha 3] to the Supreme Court of Virginia,[93] naming Chesapeake circuit judge S. Bernard Goodwyn to the Court in 2007[95] and Virginia Court of Appeals Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. to the Court in 2008.[92][lower-alpha 4]

On September 27, 2007, just weeks after appointing Esam Omeish to the 20-member Virginia Commission on Immigration, Kaine learned that Omeish had made videos accusing Israel of genocide and calling for the impeachment of President Bush.[96] Kaine immediately requested and received Omeish's resignation and said that background checks would be more thorough in the future.[97]

Tim Kaine and supporters, October 20, 2012

After Senator Jim Webb's decision not to seek reelection, Kaine announced on April 5, 2011, that he would run for Webb's seat. He was initially reluctant to return to public office, but Webb, Senator Mark Warner, and other Virginia Democrats saw Kaine as the strongest potential Democratic candidate and convinced him to run.[34] Kaine named Lawrence Roberts as his campaign chairman.[116] Mike Henry was chosen as Kaine's campaign manager.[117] Kaine filmed announcement videos in English and Spanish[118][119] and was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.[120] He defeated former senator and governor George Allen in the general election.[121][122]

Kaine was sworn in for a six-year term on January 3, 2013, reuniting him with Mark Warner, the senior senator. Kaine was lieutenant governor when Warner was governor of Virginia.

On June 11, 2013, Kaine delivered a speech on the Senate floor in support of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" immigration bill. The speech was entirely in Spanish, marking the first time a senator had ever made a speech on the Senate floor in a language other than English.[123]

Kaine speaking in 2016

As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Kaine pushed for a new Congressional authorization of military force for the American operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).[124] Kaine supported the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, though he also helped Republican senator Bob Corker hold a vote on a resolution of disapproval on the deal.[124] Kaine has taken several trips throughout the Middle East, meeting with the leaders of states such as Turkey and Israel.[124]

While in the Senate, Kaine has continued to teach part-time at the University of Richmond, receiving a salary of $16,000 per year.[125]

Kaine voted with his party more than 90% of the time.[126][127] According to the Washington Post, Kaine has "crafted a largely progressive record as a senator."[128] He reportedly has good relations with both Democratic and Republican senators.[129][130][131][132]

During the 2016 vice presidential campaign, Kaine frequently criticized Donald Trump, saying that Trump "as commander-in-chief scares me to death" and had a "bizarre fascination with strongmen and authoritarian leaders."[133] In 2017, after Trump took office, Kaine continued to criticize the new president's "authoritarian tendencies," citing his attacks on media, judges, and peaceful protesters.[133] At an event at George Mason University, Kaine said that with Trump in office, Americans "are in a 'living experiment' to see whether or not the Constitution still works to check executive power."[134]

In February 2017, Kaine met with Pope Francis at a general audience at the Vatican. Kaine also met with the Jesuit Refugee Service to discuss refugees and met with Vatican officials to discuss Latin American issues.[135][136] The same month, Kaine delivered an address on "The Truman Doctrine at 70" at London's Chatham House.[136][137]

In the 113th Congress (2013–15), Kaine was on the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on the Budget, and the Committee on Foreign Relations.[138] In the 114th Congress, Kaine was on the same three committees, plus the Special Committee on Aging.[139][140] In July 2013, Kaine was named chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism.[141]

Within the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kaine is a member of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support (for which he is the ranking member), and the Subcommittee on Seapower.[142]

Within the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Kaine is a member of the Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development (for which he is the ranking member), the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, the Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, and the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's Issues.[143]

In January 2014, Kaine, with Republican senator Rob Portman of Ohio, established the bipartisan Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus (CTE Caucus), which focuses on vocational education and technical education.[144] Kaine and Portman co-chair the caucus.[145][146] In 2014, Kaine and Portman introduced the CTE Excellence and Equity Act to the Senate; the legislation would provide $500 million in federal funding, distributed by competitive grants, to high schools to further CTE programs.[147] The legislation, introduced as an amendment to the omnibus Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, would promote apprenticeships and similar initiatives.[147] Kaine and Portman introduced similar legislation, the Educating Tomorrow's Workforce Act, in 2017.[148]

Kaine, a Roman Catholic, is personally against abortion,[178][179] but is "largely inclined to keep the law out of women's reproductive decisions."[178] Kaine has said: "I'm a strong supporter of Roe v. Wade and women being able to make these decisions. In government, we have enough things to worry about. We don't need to make people's reproductive decisions for them."[180] Kaine supports some legal restrictions on abortion, such as requiring parental consent for minors (with a judicial bypass procedure) and banning late-term abortions in cases where the woman's life is not at risk.[181]

In 2009, Kaine signed a bill to create a "Choose Life" license plate, among the more than 200 Virginia specialty plates already offered, the proceeds of which would partly go to Heartbeat International, a Christian organization that operates anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.[182] Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America expressed disappointment in Kaine's decision.[182] Kaine considered such license plate messages a matter of free speech and added that the move was "in keeping with the commonwealth's longtime practice of approving specialty plates with all manner of political and social messages."[182]

Kaine previously criticized the Obama administration for "not providing a 'broad enough religious employer exemption'" in the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act, but praised a 2012 amendment to the regulations that required insurers to provide birth control to employees when an employer was an objecting religious organization.[183]

In 2005, when running for governor, Kaine said he favored reducing abortions by: (1) "Enforcing the current Virginia restrictions on abortion and passing an enforceable ban on partial birth abortion that protects the life and health of the mother"; (2) "Fighting teen pregnancy through abstinence-focused education"; (3) "Ensuring women's access to health care (including legal contraception) and economic opportunity"; and (4) "Promoting adoption as an alternative for women facing unwanted pregnancies."[184]

In 2007, as governor, Kaine cut off state funding for abstinence-only sex education programs, citing studies which showed that such programs were ineffective, while comprehensive sex education programs were more effective.[185] Kaine believes that both abstinence and contraceptives must be taught, and that education should be evidence-based.[185]

As a senator, he has received perfect scores from Planned Parenthood and the abortion-rights advocacy group NARAL.[126][186] He has received a score of zero from the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee.[186]

Kaine "strongly disagrees" with the ruling in Citizens United v. FEC (2010).[187] In 2015, Kaine joined a group of Senate Democrats in a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White that said the ruling "reversed long-standing precedent and has moved our country in a different and disturbing direction when it comes to corporate influence in politics." They urged the SEC to require publicly traded companies to disclose political spending to their shareholders to "increase transparency in the U.S. political process" following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United.[187]

Kaine personally opposes capital punishment, but presided over eleven executions while governor.[188] Kaine said: "I really struggled with [capital punishment] as Governor. I have a moral position against the death penalty. But I took an oath of office to uphold it. Following an oath of office is also a moral obligation."[34] During his time in office he commuted one death sentence in June 2008, that of Percy Levar Walton to life imprisonment without parole on grounds of mental incompetence, writing that "one cannot reasonably conclude that Walton is fully aware of the punishment he is about to suffer and why he is to suffer it" and thus executing him would be unconstitutional.[189] Kaine vetoed a number of bills to expand the death sentence to more crimes, saying: "I do not believe that further expansion of the death penalty is necessary to protect human life or provide for public safety needs."[190][191] Some of the vetoes were overridden, while others were sustained.[192][lower-alpha 6]

On July 31, 2019, following Attorney General William Barr announcing that the United States federal government would resume the use of the death penalty for the first time in over twenty years, Kaine was a cosponsor of a bill banning the death penalty.[193]

Kaine acknowledges the scientific consensus on climate change, and in a 2014 Senate speech criticized climate change deniers, as well as those who "may not deny the climate science, but ... deny that the U.S. can or should be a leader in taking any steps" to address the issue.[194]

Kaine has expressed concern about sea level rise (a major consequence of climate change),[146] and in particular its effect on coastal Virginia.[194] In 2014, he partnered with two Virginia Republicans—U.S. Representatives Rob Wittman and Scott Rigell—to hold a conference on sea-level rise and "local adaptation efforts to protect military installations in the Hampton Roads area."[146]

Kaine endorses making coal energy production cleaner, saying that it is imperative "to convert coal to electricity with less pollution than we do today."[194] He has criticized those who "frame the debate as a conflict between an economy and the environment," saying that "protecting the environment is good for the economy."[194] Kaine co-sponsored the Advanced Clean Coal Technology Investment in Our Nation (ACCTION) Act, legislation to increase investment in clean coal technologies.[195] He voted against passage of legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.[196] Kaine supports the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to harvest natural gas from shale formations. He believes this will reduce carbon pollution.[195] Kaine voted against an amendment, introduced by Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, that would have repealed a provision in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that exempts hydraulic fracturing from the underground injection control provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. As a result, regulation of hydraulic fracturing remains in the hands of state agencies; the U.S. EPA cannot regulate hydraulic fracturing nor require a federal permit.[197][198] Kaine supports exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to other countries.[199]

Like his fellow senator from Virginia, Mark Warner, Kaine applauded the U.S. Forest Service's plan to close most, but not all, of the George Washington National Forest to hydraulic fracturing and other horizontal drilling activities.[200]

In 2013, Kaine supported oil and gas exploration off the coast of Virginia, saying, "I have long believed that the moratorium on offshore drilling, based on a cost-benefit calculation performed decades ago, should be re-examined."[201][202] In April 2015, Kaine reiterated his opposition to the moratorium on offshore drilling.[203] In March 2016, Kaine signaled that his position was softening, saying he was "particularly struck by the material objections of the Department of Defense to the incompatibility of drilling with naval operations off Virginia's coast... I have participated in this debate for over a decade as a governor and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The DOD has been relatively quiet during this public debate and has never shared their objections with me before."[203] By August 2016, Kaine stated his support for a ban on offshore drilling, bringing his position in line with that of Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration.[203]

Kaine supports the development of solar energy and offshore wind turbines.[195] Based on his votes on environmental issues in the Senate, the League of Conservation Voters has given Kaine a 95% score for 2018, and a 94% lifetime score.[198] (At the time of his 2016 vice presidential campaign, Kaine had an 88% score for 2015, and a 91% lifetime score.)[146]

In March 2019, Kaine was one of eleven senators to sponsor the Climate Security Act of 2019, legislation forming a new group within the State Department that would have the responsibility for developing strategies to integrate climate science and data into operations of national security as well as restoring the post of special envoy for the Arctic, which had been dismantled by President Trump in 2017. The proposed envoy would advise the president and the administration on the potential effects of climate on national security and be responsible for facilitating all interagency communication between federal science and security agencies.[204]

In April 2019, Kaine was one of twelve senators to sign a bipartisan letter to top senators on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development advocating for the Energy Department to be granted with maximum funding for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), citing American job growth could be stimulated through investment in creating viable options to capture carbon emissions released into the atmosphere and expressing disagreement with the 2020 budget request of President Trump that called for combining the two federal programs that include carbon capture research.[205]

Kaine strongly supports financial regulation and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.[176] In July 2016, Kaine signed a bipartisan letter that "urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to 'carefully tailor its rulemaking' [under Dodd-Frank] regarding community banks and credit unions so as not to 'unduly burden' these institutions with regulations aimed at commercial banks."[176] The letter prompted criticism from progressives who viewed it as anti-regulation.[176][206] Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, called the letter "a lobbyist-driven effort to help banks dodge consumer protection standards and regulations designed to prevent banks from destroying our economy." Kaine responded to the criticism by saying, "it's important you don't treat every financial institution the same. It wasn't credit unions that tanked the economy, it wasn't local community banks that tanked the economy, generally wasn't regional banks that did things that tanked the economy."[176] Kaine also signed a letter urging that a requirement that regional banks report liquidity levels on a daily basis be loosened.[207]

In the Senate, Kaine has supported the normalization of U.S.–Cuban relations and the international nuclear agreement with Iran.[208]

Kaine expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.[209] In September 2016, in advance of a UN Security Council resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, Kaine signed an AIPAC-sponsored letter urging President Obama to veto "one-sided" resolutions against Israel.[210]

In 2015, Kaine expressed support for the Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes in Yemen against Houthi forces fighting the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi,[211] but in 2018, Kaine was one of seven senators to sign a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressing that they found it "difficult to reconcile known facts with at least two" of the Trump administration's certifications that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were attempting to protect Yemeni civilians and were in compliance with U.S. laws on arms sales, citing an inconsistency with a memo from Pompeo to Congress expressly stating that on some occasions the Saudi and Emirates governments had failed to adopt measures to reduce civilian casualties.[212] Kaine also condemned the Trump administration over an "eagerness to give the Saudis anything they want" after the administration approved the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia after the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.[213][214]

In July 2017, Kaine voted in favor of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that placed sanctions on Iran together with Russia and North Korea.[215][216]

In 2019, Kaine was one of 34 Senate Democrats to sign a letter to President Trump urging him to reconsider cuts to U.S. foreign aid to the Northern Triangle countries of Central America in the Fiscal Year 2018 national security appropriations bill. The letter said that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance," viewing it as a gift or charity to foreign governments rather than a tool to promote American interests and collective security. The senators wrote that U.S. foreign assistance to Central American countries, by improving stability and alleviating poverty in the region, reduced Central American migration flows to the U.S.[217]

In 2019, Kaine was a cosponsor of the South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act, a bipartisan bill reintroduced by Marco Rubio and Ben Cardin that was intended to disrupt China's consolidation or expansion of its claims of jurisdiction over both the sea and airspace in disputed zones in the South China Sea.[218]

After the 2016 presidential campaign, Kaine wrote an extensive essay in Foreign Affairs outlining his underlying foreign policy philosophy.[219] According to Kaine, American foreign policy has suffered a lack of direction since the 1990s because the end of the Cold War rendered irrelevant America's previous grand strategy, which Kaine identifies as the Truman Doctrine. This lack of grand strategy makes American actions seem random, complicating the policy making process and hindering efforts by American leaders to convince the general public that American foreign policy is worthwhile. To remedy this, Kaine proposes a new grand strategy based mainly on democracy promotion. Kaine's grand strategy is informed by a tri-polar balance of international power, with one pole being democratic states including the United States and its allies, the second being autocratic powers led by Russia and China, and the third being nonstate actors (multinational corporations, NGOs, gangs, etc.).

First, Kaine believes that the United States should work to support democracy in already democratic countries, as democracy globally has been declining for many years.[220] To maintain democracy in democratic countries, Kaine proposes the creation of an intergovernmental organization consisting of all the world's democracies in which states can cooperate on solutions to problems such as corruption and voter inclusion. He compares this hypothetical group to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in which advanced industrialized countries collaborate on economic policy. Kaine believes that this new organization will help democracies remain democratic, as well as promoting democracy in other countries by providing those countries viable democratic examples for them to emulate. In this way, Kaine says that the United States should no longer see itself as the indispensable nation, but rather the "exemplary democracy."

Second, Kaine proposes that democracies should coordinate to best interact with authoritarian states. Depending on the circumstances, democracies should either "confront," "compete," or "cooperate" with autocracies. For example, Kaine observes that the United States competes with its authoritarian adversaries by strengthening military and commercial alliances, and it confronts them by decrying their human rights records.[219]

Finally, Kaine believes that democracies and autocracies should cooperate when they have the same interests, such as combating climate change.

In July 2017, Kaine expanded on the grand strategy proposed in this essay in an interview at the Brookings Institution with international relations scholar Robert Kagan.[221]

On the issue of the war in Afghanistan, Kaine's website states "The main mission in Afghanistan—destroying Al Qaeda—is nearly complete and we should bring our troops home as quickly as we can, consistent with the need to make sure that Afghanistan poses no danger in the broader region."[222]

Kaine believes that American foreign policy has neglected relations with Latin America and argues for an increased focus on the Americas, saying, "We have seldom paid enough attention to the Americas, in particular, and when we have—whether through the Monroe Doctrine or by battling communist movements during the Cold War—we have focused more on blocking outsiders from building influence in the Western Hemisphere than we have on the nations already there."[219]

Kaine is known for "expertise on the constitutional powers of the presidency"[168] and has said that "war powers questions" are a "personal obsession" of his.[223][224] He has stressed that under the Constitution, "Congress has the power to declare war — and only Congress."[225] Kaine has termed U.S. missile strikes against the Syrian government in 2018, ordered by Trump, as illegal because they were undertaken without congressional approval.[225]

Kaine and Republican senator John McCain of Arizona introduced the War Powers Consultation Act of 2014,[226] which would replace the War Powers Act of 1973, bringing the Congress back into decisions on the deployment of U.S. military forces.[226] The bill would establish a Congressional Consultation Committee, with which the president would be required to consult regularly regarding significant foreign policy matters; before ordering the deployment of the armed forces into a significant armed conflict; and at least every two months for the duration of any significant armed conflict.[226][227] Kaine argued for the bill by citing his "frustration" over the sloppiness of "process and communication over decisions of war", noting that "presidents tend to overreach and Congress sometimes willingly ducks tough votes and decisions. We all have to do better."[226]

In February 2018, Kaine was one of eighteen senators to sign a letter to President Trump arguing that striking North Korea with "a preventative or preemptive U.S. military strike would lack either a constitutional basis or legal authority" without congressional approval.[228]

In January 2020, Kaine introduced a new war powers resolution which would prohibit the US from entering hostilities against Iran within 30 days unless they are responding to an imminent threat.[229] The following month, the measure passed the Senate 55–45, securing the votes of eight Republicans along with the Democrats.[230] Trump subsequently vetoed the measure,[231] and the Senate failed to override the veto.[232]

In 2014, Kaine argued that the U.S. military intervention against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), undertaken by President Obama, was unconstitutional without a new congressional authorization for the use of military force against ISIL.[233] In November 2014, at the Halifax International Security Forum, Kaine, along with Senator John McCain, emphasized the necessity of such a congressional authorization, saying: "You just can't have a war without Congress. You can't ask people to risk their lives, risk getting killed, seeing other folks getting killed or injured if Congress isn't willing to do the job to put their thumbprint on this and say, this is a national mission and worth it."[234] After the April 2017 Shayrat missile strike in Syria, ordered by President Donald Trump, Kaine said: "There is no legal justification for this. He should not have done this without coming to Congress."[235] On Meet the Press, Kaine stated: "I'm a strong supporter that the U.S. should take action to protect humanitarian causes, like the ban on chemical weapons. Where I differ from this administration, and I took the same position with respect to President Obama, we are a nation that's not supposed to take military action, start war, without a plan that's presented to and approved by Congress."[236]

On December 11, 2014, after a five-month campaign by Kaine, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved by 10–8 (straight party lines) a measure authorizing military force against ISIL, but barring the use of ground troops.[237][238] In October 2015, Kaine criticized Obama's approach to the Syrian Civil War, saying that the establishment of humanitarian no-fly zones would have alleviated the humanitarian crisis in Syria.[239][240]

Kaine is a firearms owner.[208] He has supported expanded background checks for weapons purchases as well as "restrictions on the sale of combat-style weapons and high-capacity magazines."[208][241] As governor, Kaine oversaw the closing of loopholes in Virginia law that allowed some who had failed background checks to purchase guns.[208] In the Senate, Kaine has supported legislation which would require background checks to be performed for weapons sold via gun shows and via the internet.[208] He also supports legislation to bar weapons sales to suspected terrorists on the No Fly List.[208]

In November 2017, Kaine was a cosponsor of the Military Domestic Violence Reporting Enhancement Act, a bill that would form a charge of Domestic Violence under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and stipulate that convictions would have to be reported to federal databases with the authority to keep abusers from purchasing firearms within three days in an attempt to close a loophole in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) through which convicted abusers retained the ability to purchase firearms.[242]

In March 2018, Kaine was one of ten senators to sign a letter to Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Lamar Alexander and ranking Democrat Patty Murray requesting they schedule a hearing on the causes and remedies of mass shootings in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.[243]

In June 2019, Kaine was one of four senators to cosponsor the Help Empower Americans to Respond (HEAR) Act, legislation that would ban suppressors being imported, sold, made, sent elsewhere or possessed and grant a silencer buyback program as well as include certain exceptions for current and former law enforcement personnel and others. The bill was intended to respond to the Virginia Beach shooting, where the perpetrator used a .45-caliber handgun with multiple extended magazines and a suppressor.[244]

Kaine has a 100% rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence[245] and an "F" rating from the NRA.[246]

Kaine supported passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 ("Obamacare"), saying in 2012: "I was a supporter and remain a supporter of the Affordable Care Act. I felt like it was a statement that we were going to put some things in the rear-view mirror."[247] In 2013, Kaine said that he agreed that changes to the ACA should be debated, but criticized Republicans for "wrapping them up with the threat" of a federal government shutdown.[248]

In 2018, Kaine, along with fellow Democratic senator Michael Bennet, proposed the creation of "Medicare X"—a public health insurance option modeled after Medicare that would be available on ACA health insurance marketplaces along with private options. The proposal is a more incrementalist alternative to Bernie Sanders's push for "Medicare for All" (single-payer health care).[249]

In December 2018, Kaine was one of forty-two senators to sign a letter to Trump administration officials Alex Azar, Seema Verma, and Steve Mnuchin arguing that the administration was improperly using Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act to authorize states to "increase health care costs for millions of consumers while weakening protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions." The senators requested the administration withdraw the policy and "re-engage with stakeholders, states, and Congress."[250]

In January 2019, Kaine was one of six Democratic senators to introduce the American Miners Act of 2019, a bill that would amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to swap funds in excess of the amounts needed to meet existing obligations under the Abandoned Mine Land fund to the 1974 Pension Plan as part of an effort to prevent its insolvency as a result of coal company bankruptcies and the 2008 financial crisis. It also increased the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund tax and ensured that miners affected by the 2018 coal company bankruptcies would not lose their health care.[251]

In December 2016, Kaine was one of 17 senators to sign a letter to President-elect Trump asking him to fulfill a campaign pledge to bring down the cost of prescription drugs.[252] In February 2017, Kaine and thirty other senators signed a letter to Kaléo Pharmaceuticals in response to the opioid-overdose-reversing device Evzio rising in price from $690 in 2014 to $4,500 and requested the company answer what the detailed price structure for Evzio was, the number of devices Kaléo Pharmaceuticals set aside for donation, and the totality of federal reimbursements Evzio received in the previous year.[253] In February 2019, Kaine was one of eleven senators to sign a letter to insulin manufacturers Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi over increased insulin prices and charging the price increases with having caused patients to lack "access to the life-saving medications they need."[254]

In August 2019, Kaine was one of nineteen Democratic senators to sign a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar requesting data from the Trump administration on the consequences for healthcare if Texas prevailed in its lawsuit seeking to gut the Affordable Care Act. The senators wrote: "Upending the current health care system will create an enormous hole in the pocketbooks of the people we serve as well as wreck state budgets; therefore, we ask for data to help states and Congress better understand the potential consequences of the position the Administration is taking in court."[255]

In September 2019, amid discussions to prevent a government shutdown, Kaine was one of six Democratic senators to sign a letter to congressional leadership advocating for the passage of legislation that would permanently fund health care and pension benefits for retired coal miners as "families in Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, Alabama, Colorado, North Dakota and New Mexico" would start to receive notifications of health care termination by the end of the following month.[256]

Kaine supports President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) programs,[257] which would allow up to five million undocumented immigrants to gain deferral of deportation and authorization to legally work in the United States.[208] Alongside fellow Virginia senator Mark Warner and many other members of Congress, Kaine signed on to an amicus brief in support of the program in the Supreme Court case of United States v. Texas.[258][259]

Kaine also supports comprehensive immigration reform, which would allow persons illegally present in the U.S. to earn legal status by paying a fine and taxes.[208]

In July 2019, following reports that the Trump administration intended to end protections of spouses, parents and children of active-duty service members from deportation, Kaine was one of twenty-two senators to sign a letter led by Tammy Duckworth arguing that the program allowed service members the ability "to fight for the United States overseas and not worry that their spouse, children, or parents will be deported while they are away" and that the program's termination would cause both personal hardship and a negatively impact for service members in combat.[260]

In July 2019, Kaine and fifteen other Senate Democrats introduced the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, a bill to mandate that ICE agents get approval from a supervisor before undertaking an immigration raid or other enforcement actions at "sensitive locations" (schools, hospitals, places of worship, and courthouses) with the exception of special circumstances. The bill would also require agents to receive annual training and require ICE to submit an annual report on enforcement actions in those locations.[261]

In 2006, Kaine campaigned against an amendment to the Virginia State Constitution to ban same-sex marriage,[262] and in March 2013, Kaine announced his support of same-sex marriage.[263][264]

In the Senate, Kaine co-sponsored the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would bar employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.[265]

In 2005, Kaine said: "No couples in Virginia can adopt other than a married couple — that's the right policy."[266] In 2011, however, Kaine shifted his position.[267] In 2012, he stated that "there should be a license that would entitle a committed couple to the same rights as a married couple."[268]

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Kaine noted that his position on same-sex marriage was "at odds with the current doctrine of the church that I still attend." He predicted that the Roman Catholic Church would someday adopt his view.[269] In response, two bishops heading the doctrine and marriage committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said that the church's position "cannot change" and reaffirmed their opposition to same-sex marriage.[270]

In October 2018, Kaine was one of twenty senators to sign a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, urging him to reverse the State Department's policy of denying visas to same-sex partners of LGBTQ diplomats who had unions which were not recognized by their home countries, writing that the Trump administration's refusal to allow LGBTQ diplomats to bring their partners to the U.S. was tantamount to upholding the "discriminatory policies of many countries around the world."[271] In June 2019, Kaine was one of eighteen senators to sign a letter to Pompeo requesting an explanation of the State Department's decision not to issue an official statement that year commemorating Pride Month or issue the annual cable outlining activities for embassies commemorating Pride Month. The signatories to the letter also questioned why the LGBTI special envoy position had remained vacant. The authors said that the State Department's moves had sent "signals to the international community that the United States is abandoning the advancement of LGBTI rights as a foreign policy priority."[272]

Kaine supports allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for those with incomes above $500,000.[273]

In 2012, Kaine supported raising the cap on income subject for the FICA (Social Security) payroll tax "so that it covers a similar percentage of income as it did in the 1980s under President Reagan, which would greatly extend the solvency of the (Social Security) program."[274]

In the Senate, Kaine has supported the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow states to require online retailers to collect sales taxes in the same manner as traditional brick-and-mortar retailers.[275][276][277]

Kaine supported granting President Obama Trade Promotion Authority (TPA or "fast track") to allow him to negotiate free trade agreements.[278] Kaine stated that the goal should be to "negotiate deals that protect workers' rights, environmental standards and intellectual property, while knocking down tariffs and other barriers that some countries erect to keep American products out."[278]

In July 2016, Kaine said that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement was "an improvement of the status quo" in terms of it being an "upgrade of labor standards... environmental standards... intellectual property protections", but maintained that he had not yet decided how to vote on final approval of the agreement, citing "significant concerns" over TPP's dispute resolution mechanism.[279] Later that July, Kaine said that he could not support the TPP in its current form.[280]

Kaine has been a proponent of NAFTA.[281]

Kaine supports some smart growth-style policies (which Kaine calls "a balanced approach to growth") to control sprawl and improve transportation.[282] He favors a transportation policy that includes public transit, bicycles, and pedestrians.[283] As governor, Kaine pushed through a $100 million open-space acquisition initiative.[283] Under Kaine, Amtrak service in Virginia was expanded.[284][285][286] Kaine also participated in a White House roundtable discussion on high-speed rail in 2009.[284]

In April 2019, Kaine was one of 41 senators to sign a bipartisan letter in support of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 Capacity Building program, a program authorizing HUD to partner with nonprofit community development groups to provide support to community development corporations. The letter said that the longstanding program had successfully promoted economic and community development, opposed the proposed elimination of the plan slated in President Trump's budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2020, and urged the Senate to support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020.[287]

Kaine is "generally pro-union" and has received a 96 percent lifetime Senate voting rating from the AFL-CIO,[146] which praised his selection as vice presidential nominee.[288] However, Kaine supports Virginia's longstanding "right-to-work" law, which "frees union nonmembers from any legal obligation to pay fees to a union that bargains collectively on their behalf".[146]

Kaine supports the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which expands the cases in which worker can sue against gender pay discrimination.[289] Following his selection by Clinton as a running mate in 2016, Kaine was praised by the National Organization for Women.[288][290]

Kaine favors an increase in the minimum wage.[146]