While Virginia does well in the amount of federal funding it receives, much of that funding is aimed at the military, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine said during a visit Monday to Gloucester Point.

After being briefed on some of the technical work being conducted at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Kaine said that Virginia doesn’t do as well in getting its share of funding for research projects as it does for various Department of Defense programs in the state.

Sequestration has hurt funding many federal programs in recent years, Kaine said, and he expects the federal budget to be impacted by sequester at least through the early 2020s.

The former Virginia governor said that current Gov. Terry McAuliffe faces “a different budget challenge” than the federal budget decision makers. In some cases, Kaine said, all McAuliffe can do is to “tighten his belt” as he faces some federal cuts.

At the federal level, the budget is prepared quite a bit differently tha...