by John Reid

After announcing his bid for re-election this past Tuesday, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine has made several stops during his “Stand Up For Virginia” tour. On Friday, he visited the Town of Dumfries, where a block party was held at Merchant Park. Surrounded by several supporters, including elected officials, Kaine addressed the needs facing Virginians and recalled advice given to him by Senator Tim Warner as he ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2001.

“I remember him saying, ‘If I were you,” he said to the audience, “I would spend more time in Latin Prince William County, and I took that to heart, because I could see the change, the possibilities.”

He also touted his success in his civil rights work, as well as his time in city council, then Mayor of Richmond, and then later on becoming Governor. The Senator’s entire speech is on the PW Perspective Facebook page.

Prior to the speech, Senator Kaine spoke with the PW Perspective’s John Reid on an abundance of issues. He talked about the attainable housing crisis and what needs to be done. “It’s interesting,” he said, “I just came from a meeting down Route 1, and housing was one of the five major issues that people really wanted to talk about. There is a bill that is pending before the Senate right now, it’s a house bill that passed with bi-partisan support to do something I’ve advocated for years to increase the low-income housing tax credit. This is money that we hand to states that states then award to develop low-to-moderate income housing.”

“Obviously,” he continued, “that dollar doesn’t turn into a house tomorrow; you have to plan and develop it. It’s a really successful program that’s works, it’s just not been funded at the level that it needs to be funded right now. I am urging the Senate to just take the house bill that is. Don’t amend it, just take it up as is and vote on it, and I think we are going to have a vote on it in April when we get back.”

“Actually, the housing tax credit, and the child tax credit and the corporate R&D tax go together. So there’s an immediate bill on the table right now in the Senate that I hope we can pass.”

He then responded to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s veto of the minimum wage legislation which took place earlier in the week.

“I was disappointed that the minimum wage legislation, which was passed, was vetoed by the governor,” he said. “It takes a while to get there at the federal level, states can act, and Virginia had an opportunity to act, and I’m disappointed that they didn’t.”

“We are not yet close to a minimum wage bill passing in the Senate because we don’t have enough Republican support. We need 60 votes to pass that bill, there’s 51 Democrats who will vote for it, and there’s a handful of Republicans who might, but that only gets us to 54 or 55 votes. We need more people who are willing to vote for a minimum wage bill in the senate before we get there. I’m a supporter and sponsor of minimum wage bills, but we’re not yet there in terms of the 60.”

To find out more about Senator Kaine’s campaign, visit his website.