US Sen. Tim Kaine to visit NVCC in Manassas and Quantico Marine Base Child Care Aug. 28

Today, tomorrow, and Thursday, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) will hold events in Petersburg, South Prince George, Fredericksburg, Quantico, Manassas, and Centreville to highlight how he is delivering for Virginia in the U.S. Senate.

The visits are to celebrate the millions of dollars in federal funding that Sen. Kaine secured to support workforce development, expand health care, and increase child care access. He will also discuss historic legislation he helped pass, including the Inflation Reduction Act, to lower health care and prescription drug costs for millions of Americans.
 
Today, Tuesday, August 27, Kaine, along with Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-04) and Dawn O’Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will tour Phlow Corp. in Petersburg. Kaine’s group are scheduled to receive an update on Phlow’s work and discuss how Sen. Kaine is working to expand domestic manufacturing of critical medicines, boost the pharmaceutical supply chain, and lower the costs of prescription drugs.

Phlow is part of the Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Cluster in Virginia. In October 2023, Kaine announced the cluster had been designated as one of 31 Tech Hubs across the country that show potential for rapid growth in key technology centers. According to the news release from Kaine’s office, Phlow’s tech hub designation was made possible by the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which Kaine helped pass. Kaine also worked to secure $52.9 million for the cluster from the American Rescue Plan.

Following his visit to Phlow, Kaine will travel to Richard Bland College in South Prince George County to learn more about the college’s Guided Pathways for Success program, for which Kaine secured $694,000 in congressionally directed spending in the FY 2023 government funding bill.

Kaine’s office said this program provides services, education, training, and job placement support for students from rural areas, underrepresented Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) groups, and individuals who were highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tomorrow, Aug. 28, Sen. Kaine will join seniors and health care professionals at Healthy Generations Area Agency on Aging in Fredericksburg for a roundtable discussion on how the Inflation Reduction Act has lowered health care and prescription drug costs for millions of Americans.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Kaine voted for, passed in the Senate “by one vote.” The law included a provision to cap the cost of insulin at $35 per month for Americans on Medicare. In 2025, the law will cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs for individuals under Medicare Part D at $2,000 per year.

According to Kaine’s news release, this legislation also allowed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate the price of prescription drugs for the first time, which Kaine had long pushed for. Earlier this month, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new, lower prices for the first ten drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation, which will go into effect in 2026. The slashed prices will save older Americans $1.5 billion and the federal budget $6 billion in the first year of implementation.

Also tomorrow, Wednesday, Aug. 27, Sen.Kaine will visit to Marine Corps Base Quantico and meet with Commanding Officer Col. Jenny A. Colegate and the Deputy Commandant for Manpower & Reserve Affairs and Director for Marine & Family Programs to discuss child care.

Kaine will tour the Quantico Child Development Center (CDC) South and meet with CDC staff and parents to discuss child care needs and staffing shortages. Kaine secured $8.2 million in congressionally directed spending as part of the Senate’s draft fiscal year 2025 government funding bills for the design of a new, larger CDC to address supply challenges and improve quality of life at MCB Quantico. The bills have passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Kaine is working to get them across the finish line.

On Thursday, August 29, Kaine will visit Northern Virginia Community College in Manassas to celebrate the $3,999,980 in federal funding to expand access to apprenticeships in the chips manufacturing and data center industries in Northern Virginia. The program will partner with Micron Technology’s apprenticeship program and with local high schools to create pathways for students. Kaine voted to pass the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic manufacturing of chips. Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and co-chair of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, has long championed efforts to expand access to job training. He is working to pass his bipartisan JOBS Act to help more Americans access high-quality, short-term job training by allowing them to use federal Pell Grants for the first time.

Then, Kaine will travel to Centreville to meet with Korean American families who have been separated from their relatives in North Korea since the Korean War. Kaine will discuss the need to pass his Divided Families National Registry Act, bipartisan legislation to help reunite these families.