Opinion Pieces by Rob
WASHINGTON – Virginia's congressional delegation is urging President Obama to support funding to expand the Port of Virginia. In a bipartisan letter signed by U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) and U.S. Reps.
In August, this newspaper published an editorial that described the challenges that commuters and businesses in our region face because of the debilitating traffic on our roads.
Last week, Congress fulfilled its constitutional duties by passing the annual defense policy legislation, the National Defense Authorization Act, for fiscal year 2016. The bill simply awaits President Barack Obama's signature to become law and assure our men and women in uniform that they will have the tools and resources they need.
A recent guest columnist highlighted my public advocacy against harmful defense budget cuts slated for later this year. I am glad he shares my commitment.
These additional reductions to our defense budget—known as sequestration—will hollow out our military and leave our nation in a position where our military leaders say we will be unable to defend against the threats we face.
Submitted by U.S. Sens. Mark Warner & Tim Kaine, and U.S. Reps. Rob Wittman, Scott Rigell, Bobby Scott and Randy Forbes
Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), made history Saturday, laying the keel for the U.S. Navy's 12th Virginia-class submarine. While this is newsworthy in and of itself, what makes the event historic is that this attack submarine, designated SSN 785, is the first in the class to be named after a person: Virginia's own former U.S. Senator John Warner.
Progress is fragile and fleeting, and without proper attention it can quickly be lost.
Today, pollution threatens all of the recent progress we've made at cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. At risk is not only the ecosystem's survival, but also a way of life for so many.
The chorus of resistance may have quieted, but the deafening effect of compounding budget cuts on our military blares through the halls of the homes of men and women in uniform, the buildings of our military bases, the rings of the Pentagon and our nation's Department of Defense (DoD).