Kaine to visit NRV on Wednesday
On Wednesday, Senator Tim Kaine will hold a roundtable with the New River Valley Workforce Development Board to learn more about their workforce development initiatives to meet the workforce needs of the employers in the region. In February, Kaine reintroduced the Relaunching America’s Workforce Act, legislation to provide an additional $15 billion to support workforce training. In August, Kaine led a letter to Senate leadership calling for a $100 billion investment in job training to help ensure workers are positioned for the new, skilled jobs that are going to be part of the post-pandemic economy.
Next, Kaine will hold a roundtable with the New River Valley Passenger Rail coalition to learn more about the New River Valley (NRV) Passenger Rail initiative. Formed in 2013, the NRV Passenger Rail initiative is a community-based effort to bring Amtrak passenger rail service to the region. The recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $1.2 billion over five years to improve public transportation in Virginia.
Later that afternoon, Kaine will tour The Old School at Price’s Fork to learn more about their work to provide affordable housing for seniors and meals for the community. In addition to the senior housing, the facility includes the Millstone Kitchen, a community kitchen that a local non-profit has utilized to provide low-income families, at-risk individuals, and homebound seniors with prepared meals during COVID. Since the onset of the pandemic, Kaine has worked tirelessly to help keep people in their homes. Kaine is working to include substantial investments in affordable housing in the Build Back Better bill.
Kaine played a pivotal role in crafting the recently passed Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget resolution to start the process of working on the Build Back Better bill to deliver COVID relief and greater economic opportunities while cutting taxes for middle-class and low-income families. In March, Kaine voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan which included $3 billion in Economic Development Administration (EDA) funding, which is flexible funding that states, localities, and nonprofits can use to support local and regional economic development strategies.
