U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine met with Latino business leaders and community members Thursday at a roundtable discussion in Manassas. Kaine shared his approach to strengthening the economy and creating jobs, focusing on strategies he found successful in Virginia—investing in small businesses, developing a talent-based economy, and working to find common ground to address fiscal issues.
“We don’t need more division in politics like we’ve seen in Washington,” said Kaine. “It’s most critical that we put folks in place who have a track record of working together to get things done. We can have the best ideas in the world and it won’t matter unless we are willing to find common ground.”
Throughout the 90-minute bilingual discussion, Kaine laid out his vision for developing a talent economy that allows all Virginians to fully utilize their abilities. Kaine expressed his support for the DREAM Act and advocated comprehensive immigration reform that secures the borders while allowing skilled workers to create jobs and succeed in the United States.
“When I was governor we were ranked the Best State for Business all four years,” said Kaine. “Even in the middle of the recession, we recruited companies to relocate to or expand in the Commonwealth. A big part of that was because we had made the decision to invest in talent and develop a workforce that could fill jobs today and tomorrow.”
Kaine also emphasized the importance of leveling the playing field for small businesses, including increasing their access to capital. Kaine explained how small businesses will benefit from his strategy of targeted investments in infrastructure, clean energy technology, workforce development, and education.
Kaine has always been a strong supporter of minority owned businesses. As governor, he significantly increased state contracts with small, women, and minority owned businesses. And despite a deep national recession during Kaine’s term, Forbes magazine named Virginia the “Best State for Business” four years in a row, Education Week named Virginia the best state to raise a child, and Governing magazine named Virginia the “Best Managed State” in the nation. In addition, Kaine worked across party lines to make more than $5 billion in spending cuts to keep Virginia’s budget balanced.
In contrast, during his time as a U.S. Senator, Allen voted for the largest cut to student financial aid in United States history as public tuition rose by 40 percent. In addition, Allen helped turn a record surplus into a massive deficit and voted to add more than $3 trillion to the national debt while voting four times to raise his own pay.
Since the beginning of the year, Kaine has held more than 60 economic roundtable discussions across the state, including several with Latino leaders and community members.
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AFP
