
Can 2013 Farm Bill be revived? ‘Hopefully we’ll find a way’
It’s back to the drawing board for the 2013 Farm Bill. Legislation approved by the Senate earlier this year was defeated last week in the House.

It’s back to the drawing board for the 2013 Farm Bill. Legislation approved by the Senate earlier this year was defeated last week in the House.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced bipartisan legislation today to strengthen America’s housing finance system by replacing the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a streamlined, privately-capitalized system that preserves market liquidity and protects taxpayers from bailouts during any future economic downturns.

A 5-4 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court handed down today has struck down a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The court, split along ideological lines, ruled that Congress had used obsolete reasoning in requiring several Southern states to get federal approval for voting rules changes affecting blacks and other minorities.

The 2013 session of the General Assembly was a landmark one, according to most everyone who follows politics in the Old Dominion. It passed a sweeping transportation funding package that had eluded approval for at least a couple of decades.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a member of the Armed Services Committee, met Thursday with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki to discuss significant issues facing veterans today including the disability claims backlog, education, health care access, and unemployment.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine today signed onto the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act – legislation that would end the ban on prescription drug price negotiations for the government’s largest health care program.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a member of the Armed Services Committee, lauded on Friday important provisions he advocated for Virginia’s defense community that were included in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2014.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) today announced that the Senate Armed Services Committee has incorporated their proposals to strengthen military whistleblower protection laws to ensure that victims of sexual assault and other misconduct are protected from retaliation.

Talk about taking your business to “The Cloud.” In an ingenious effort to avoid billions of dollars in taxes, Apple, Inc., has been levitating subsidiaries between American and Irish soil, claiming that from a tax-law perspective, they exist in neither country and so are subject to neither country’s taxing authority. And, sadly, the scheme has worked: no taxes have been paid to the U.S., a relatively paltry sum was paid to Ireland.

State Sens. Ralph Northam and Mark Herring will complete the Democratic Party ticket for the 2013 state elections. Northam, D-Norfolk, defeated Aneesh Chopra for the lieutenant governor nomination, with 54.3 percent of the more than 140,000 votes cast. Herring, D-Leesburg, won a tighter battle with former federal prosecutor Justin Fairfax for the attorney general nomination, with 51.6 percent of the votes going to Herring.
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