{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-with-passage-of-budget-achieved-two-of-my-highest-priorities-for-first-year", "Kaine: With Passage Of Budget, Achieved Two Of My Highest Priorities For First Year", "2013-12-18", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Kaine: With Passage Of Budget, Achieved Two Of My Highest Priorities For First Year\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, December 18, 2013\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the bipartisan Budget Conference Committee, released the following statement after the Senate voted to pass the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, 64-36.\r\n\u201cWith Senate passage of a two-year budget agreement tonight, I\u2019m proud to say that we\u2019ve achieved two of my highest priorities for my first year in office \u2013 getting a budget agreement through the House and Senate and offsetting the worst effects of sequestration that have disproportionately impacted Virginia.\u00a0 During the opening meeting of the Budget Conference Committee last month, I called on my fellow conferees to \u2018surprise the cynics.\u2019 I\u2019m so glad we did.\r\n\u201cOver the past 11 months, I witnessed the impact of budget uncertainty and sequestration by visiting military installations, private shipyards, research universities and early childhood educations centers across the Commonwealth. With passage of this compromise budget deal, we\u2019ll replace $63 billion in non-strategic sequester cuts and prevent another government shutdown, restoring much-needed certainty to these Virginians, and to our economy as a whole. It also allows appropriators to write full bills that will give the Department of Defense more flexibility to plan for the future and allow the Navy to continue its critical shipbuilding and repair work.\r\n\u201cThere are provisions in the compromise that I do not support, including a reduction in the cost of living increase (COLA) for certain military pensions. That\u2019s why I co-sponsored legislation this week to replace the $6 billion in cuts by closing a corporate tax loophole that companies use to avoid paying U.S. taxes. I\u2019m hopeful we will be able to undo these changes before they take effect in 2015 and I\u2019ll work in the Senate Armed Services Committee to do so.\r\n\u201cThere is more work to be done to replace the remaining non-strategic sequestration cuts and address our long-term fiscal challenges, but Congress has now shown that we can work together in a bipartisan way, as the American public demands and deserves.\u201d\u00a0\r\nSince taking office in January 2013, Kaine has consistently called for a return to normal budget order and relief from sequestration, even delivering his maiden Senate floor speech in February on the urgent need to find compromise and avert across-the-board sequester cuts.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-with-passage-of-budget-achieved-two-of-my-highest-priorities-for-first-year"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0156219359487295, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}