{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/tim-in-the-news/sen-tim-kaine-cw-president-colin-campbell-address-veterans-day-crowd", "Sen. Tim Kaine, CW President Colin Campbell Address Veterans Day Crowd", "2013-11-12", "2013", "2013-11", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Sen. Tim Kaine, CW President Colin Campbell Address Veterans Day Crowd\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Gregory Connolly\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            Tuesday, November 12, 2013\r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) joined Colonial Williamsburg President Colin Campbell and scores of veterans in Colonial Williamsburg on Monday for a ceremony commemorating service members.\r\nKaine and Campbell both addressed a large crowd behind the courthouse in Market Square, with their remarks bookended by performances from the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums. Kaine, who was the first person to be sworn in as Virginia\u2019s governor in Williamsburg since Thomas Jefferson, talked about Virginia\u2019s prominent role in America\u2019s military history.\r\n\u201cThe map of our military history is a map of Virginia,\u201d Kaine said, alluding to battles from the Revolutionary War up to the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.\r\nHe had the crowd raise their hands if they were service members, Department of Defense contractors, members of a military reserve corps or family members of those in uniform. By the time each group had been called, many of the hands in the crowd were in the air. Kaine, who has a son in the U.S. Marine Corps, wished that branch of the military a happy birthday.\r\nCampbell praised the veterans in the crowd, thanking them for the \u201cwillingness of citizens to put themselves in harm\u2019s way for the cause of the nation and the spirit it represents.\u201d\r\nBefore their remarks, local veterans groups marched with the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums down Duke of Gloucester Street until they arrived at the courthouse. Kaine and Campbell spoke on a stage in a large grassy area roped off from everyone besides veterans, who stood there as onlookers listened to the speeches and clapped for them.\r\nGen. George Washington, played by a Colonial Williamsburg interpreter, delivered a few remarks after Kaine, praising America\u2019s army of citizen soldiers, which has \u201cnever been made of mercenaries or hirelings.\u201d\r\nKaine, who serves on the U.S. Senate\u2019s Armed Services Committee, announced the Servicemember Education Reform and Vocational Enhancement Act of 2013 on Friday. That bill is meant to improve the quality of education service members and veterans receive in a bid to ensure higher quality jobs for them following their time in the military. It requires institutions that accept education benefits from the Veterans Administration and Department of Defense to offer academic or career counseling to students who have served.\r\nThose institutions would be required to meet minimum standards to ensure a quality education for service members. Those institutions would also be required to disclose information including graduation rates, program costs and withdrawal policies while providing access to counseling.\r\nIn an interview with WYDaily following his remarks, Kaine said he is particularly interested in tackling unemployment among veterans.\r\n\u201cThis is taking the educational benefits veterans receive either though the DoD or VA and making sure the benefits really help them get the kind of validated degree or credential that will help them get a job,\u201d Kaine said.\r\nTo accomplish this goal, the legislation would try to prevent benefits from being used in programs that do not generate meaningful credentials.\r\n\u201cThere are some operators that are frankly not that high quality, so we want to make sure we apply the appropriate standards to programs that are using veterans benefits so that it really means something,\u201d he said.\r\nFurthermore, the legislation would allow benefits to be used at places other than community colleges and universities, such as for career and technical programs.\r\n\u201cWhat about Newport News shipbuilding apprentice program?\u201d Kaine said. \u201cIf it\u2019s not a traditional community college or college, it still might be a really great job training program.\u201d\r\nKaine plans to introduce the bill in the U.S. Senate this week. He said the bill has attracted co-sponsors from across the aisle.\r\n\u201cThis is not the kind of initiative where just one party supports it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe find huge bipartisan support for it.\u201d\r\nThe Serve Act is not Kaine\u2019s first foray into legislation aimed at improving the lives of veterans and service members. He introduced the Troop Talent Act of 2013 in April. That bill, which is currently in committee, is meant to more closely align specialty skills acquired in the military with civilian credentials or licenses required for employment after the military.\r\nWhen asked about last week\u2019s election, he said it was a ratification of the \u201clet\u2019s work together\u201d route as opposed to the \u201cideological\u201d route.\r\n\u201cVirginians, Democrat, Republican, independent, after Election Day they want to pick people who know how to work together to make good things happen, and I think that was probably the message the electorate was sending,\u201d Kaine said.\r\nKaine has been in office for nearly a year. His road to the Senate began in 1994 when he ran for the Richmond City Council. After serving as a councilman and mayor, he was elected lieutenant governor in 2001 under Gov. Mark Warner, who is now his partner in the Senate. In 2005, Kaine was elected governor of Virginia. Like Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe, Kaine served as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee until 2011.\r\n\u201cYou gotta have patience,\u201d he said of working in the U.S. Senate. \u201cI really am enjoying my job. I\u2019m blessed to have good committees and a great staff.\u201d\r\nIn addition to Armed Services, Kaine is also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Budget Committee.\r\n\u201cWhat we most need in Washington is people who want to build bridges, not burn them,\u201d Kaine said. \u201cIt\u2019s the relationship building and the working together where Washington is weak. The dysfunctions in Washington, some of them are ideological but more of them are the willingness to work together. We just have to have more people in office all the time who really make the commitment to do that.\u201d\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/tim-in-the-news/sen-tim-kaine-cw-president-colin-campbell-address-veterans-day-crowd"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7150848396122456, "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"}