Tim Kaine

Quick facts

Key positions

Biography

Tim Kaine is a Democratic U.S. Senator from Virginia, serving since 2013. He sits on both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and for more than a decade has been one of Congress’s most persistent advocates for reasserting congressional authority over war-making.

Beginning in 2019, Kaine and Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana introduced standalone legislation in each Congress to repeal the 1991 Gulf War and 2002 Iraq Authorizations for Use of Military Force. The Senate had previously voted 66-30 to repeal both authorizations on a standalone basis, but the House had not taken up that vote. In the 119th Congress, the Kaine-Young repeal text was adopted as part of the final FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act conference text — the first congressional clawback of a war authorization since the 1971 repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Kaine voted for the final FY 2026 NDAA conference text and, ahead of its passage, framed the AUMF repeal as “a historic victory for our country and for the American people who want to finally close the book on this endless war.” The same bill, enacted in that single vote, also carried a range of unrelated defense and foreign-policy provisions that the repeal language was bundled alongside in conference.

Sources

• “Kaine & Young Applaud Inclusion of Bipartisan Legislation to Formally End Iraq Wars in FY26 NDAA,” Office of Sen. Tim Kaine. https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-and-young-applaud-inclusion-of-bipartisan-legislation-to-formally-end-iraq-wars-in-fy26-ndaa
• “Kaine & Young Applaud Bipartisan Bill to Formally End Iraq Wars Becoming Law,” Office of Sen. Tim Kaine. https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-and-young-applaud-bipartisan-bill-to-formally-end-iraq-wars-becoming-law
• “Young, Kaine Applaud Passage of Their Bill to Repeal 1991 & 2002 AUMFs, Formally End Gulf & Iraq Wars,” Office of Sen. Todd Young. https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/young-kaine-applaud-passage-of-their-bill-to-repeal-1991-2002-aumfs-formally-end-gulf-iraq-wars/
• “United States Senate Votes to Repeal 1991 and 2002 AUMFs,” American Society of International Law (ASIL). https://www.asil.org/ILIB/united-states-senate-votes-repeal-1991-and-2002-aumfs