U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine will hold events in Charlottesville, Vinton, Roanoke and Clifton Forge to discuss supporting Virginians experiencing long COVID; addressing women’s workforce, economic equity, and maternal health issues; improving community safety and mental health; and his legislation to boost access to job training programs.
Kaine will also hike the Shenandoah Mountain Trail near Staunton to discuss his new legislation to establish a National Scenic Area in Rockingham, Augusta, and Highland counties.
On Friday, Kaine will participate in a roundtable in Charlottesville with UVA health care providers and researchers to discuss their experiences with long COVID and his Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education (CARE) for Long COVID Act, which would improve research on long COVID and provide more resources for people experiencing its impacts.
Next, Kaine will meet with women community leaders in Vinton from throughout the region to discuss issues affecting the community, including workforce issues, economic equity, maternal health, and voting rights. This comes as March is Women’s History Month.
Then, Kaine will host a conversation in Roanoke with law enforcement officers and community advocates to discuss how to best address recent increases in community violence. Kaine strongly supports a comprehensive approach to keep Virginians safe, including the expansion of mental health services and universal background checks. In April 2021, Kaine reintroduced the Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act, which would federally enact gun violence prevention measures adopted by the General Assembly in 2020, including provisions to close current background check loopholes.
On Saturday, Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, will participate in a tour and conversation with students and faculty at Dabney Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge to learn about their programs. He will also discuss his bipartisan JOBS Act–legislation that would help more students access Pell Grants for job training programs and get good-paying jobs, as well as address employers’ challenges in finding skilled workers. Kaine is pushing to pass the JOBS Act, which was recently included in the House-passed U.S. competitiveness bill, in the final Bipartisan Innovation Act.
Finally, Kaine will hike 4.8 miles of the Shenandoah Mountain Trail near Staunton to discuss legislation he introduced this week to establish a 92,000-acre National Scenic Area in Rockingham, Augusta, and Highland counties, which would protect the scenic, historic, recreational and natural resources in the area and boost the local economy. The Shenandoah Mountain Act would encompass four embedded Wilderness areas: Skidmore Fork, Little River, Ramsey’s Draft, and Lynn Hollow. The part of the Shenandoah Mountain Trail Kaine will be hiking will fall within the proposed National Scenic Area Kaine’s legislation seeks to protect.
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Chris Graham
