Sen. Timothy “Tim” Kaine
Senator for Virginia
pronounced TIH-muh-thee // kayn
Kaine is the junior senator from Virginia and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Kaine’s current term ends on Jan 3, 2025. He is 66 years old.
![Photo of Sen. Timothy “Tim” Kaine [D-VA]](/https/www.govtrack.us/static/legislator-photos/412582-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Kaine.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Kaine is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills legislators have sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Nov 21, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Timothy “Tim” Kaine sits on the following committees:
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Senate Committee on Armed Services
- Seapower subcommittee Chair
Personnel, Readiness and Management Support subcommittees -
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
- Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues subcommittee Chair
Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy, and Environmental Policy, Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development subcommittees - Senate Committee on the Budget
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Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Children and Families, Employment and Workplace Safety subcommittees
Enacted Legislation
Kaine was the primary sponsor of 12 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 3913 (117th): Improving DATA in Public Health Act
- S. 610 (117th): Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act
- S. 3183 (117th): Enhancing Military Base Resilience and Conserving Ecosystems through Stormwater Management Act
- S. 470 (117th): Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area Act
- S. 2913 (116th): Protecting Critical Services for Mothers and Babies Act
- S. 725 (116th): A bill to change the address of the postal facility designated in honor of Captain Humayun Khan.
- S. 754 (115th): Cyber Scholarship Opportunities Act of 2017
Does 12 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Kaine sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (25%) International Affairs (22%) Education (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (10%) Labor and Employment (10%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) Taxation (7%) Crime and Law Enforcement (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Kaine recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 5368: A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to expand …
- S. 5300: Contaminated Wells Relocation Act
- S.Res. 875: A resolution designating September 21, 2024, through September 29, 2024, as “Blue Star …
- S. 5086: SOS Campus Act
- S. 4880: Child Care Workforce Act
- S. 4874: Child Care Availability and Affordability Act
- S. 4863: Fully Funding our National Security Priorities Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to Nov 2024, Kaine missed 82 of 4,070 roll call votes, which is 2.0%. This is better than the median of 3.0% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
