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Kaine: Put Virginia's Best Amazon Headquarters Pitch Forward

At a packed hotel ballroom of Northern Virginia’s business leaders, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner made a rare joint appearance Monday to talk about the state of the economy in Virginia.

When asked about the prospect that Amazon might choose Virginia as the location for its second headquarters, Kaine said it was important for Virginia to put its best foot forward. “That means if a bunch of communities in Virginia are competing with one another instead of the governor and some others like cracking some heads and deciding this is our absolute best case," Kaine told the gathering. "We need to put it all into our best case.”

In other words, Governor Terry McAuliffe and business leaders should choose one region — Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads or Richmond — and advocate for that location instead of trying to be a cheerleader for all three simultaneously.

When asked about the health care debate, Senator Mark Warner says announced a change of position on drug prices, acknowledging that the move would attract some dirty looks from the business leaders in the room.  “It’s no longer right or fair for Americans to pay for the R&D costs for all of the drugs for the whole world," Warner said.

Both Senators agreed that Republican President Donald Trump should work across party lines with Democrats if he wants to get tax reform and infrastructure improvements that will help all Americans.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.

Michael Pope is an author and journalist who lives in Old Town Alexandria.