Senator Warner's Statement on the Fiscal Commission Package

Dec 1, 2010 - 12:42 PM

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA), a member of the Senate’s Budget and Banking committees, released the following statement today on the debt reduction package produced by the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform:

“You hear a lot of talk in this town about deficit reduction. With this bipartisan framework, it’s time to put up or shut up.

“I have not completely reviewed the commission proposals yet, and I’m sure I might have made some different choices. But these appear to be solid recommendations that will help steer our nation back toward a responsible fiscal path.

“ I hope these proposals receive broad bipartisan support among commission members and will be evaluated with an open mind by my colleagues.

“Many of these choices are tough, but our nation’s fiscal crisis is real, and as the ongoing crisis in Europe shows, we cannot ignore it simply because it is inconvenient.

“We must not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.”

Sen. Warner Disappointed in Coastal Drilling Decision

Dec 1, 2010 - 04:54 PM

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that no offshore oil drilling will be allowed off the coast of Virginia for at least the next seven years. This announcement reversed an earlier Obama administration decision to open certain parts of the American coastline to drilling, including off the Atlantic Coast of Virginia.

Senator Warner is disappointed in the decision, and our office issued the following statement in response to the announcement:

“Mid-Atlantic coastal oil and gas production does not represent a ‘silver bullet’ solution to our energy challenges, and while it is appropriate to take the time to incorporate lessons learned from the Gulf disaster, Senator Warner sees no reason to delay this process for what realistically could be another seven years or more.

“Senator Warner will continue to work with Governor McDonnell and other state and local officials, as well as the bipartisan Virginia delegation, to explore ways to re-examine this decision.”

Our first annual Virginia Women's Conference

Nov 29, 2010 - 11:15 AM

Senator Warner hosted our first Virginia Women’s Conference on Nov. 20 in Richmond with the theme A Financial Roadmap for Smart Money Decisions. AARP, Dominion, and Genworth Financial co-sponsored the conference, which provided timely and helpful advice to nearly 300 attendees on issues ranging from career development, starting a business and retirement planning.

The conference featured keynote speeches from Senator Warner and entrepreneur Patricia Miller -- founder and President of Miller Office Supplies, the second-largest independent and the largest woman-owned office products dealership in Northern Virginia/DC region.

This event offered lots of networking opportunities and smaller breakout sessions, and feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive:

[The conference was] Informative, engaging and powerful.

Very informative and empowering for women.

The speaker for the luncheon had a marvelous story.

I recently lost my job to downsizing. This workshop came at the perfect time for me. I learned so much in the “Re-inventing yourself during employment transition” breakout session. The presenters were all very informative.

VA congressional delegation, Governor, meet with Pentagon about JFCOM

Nov 23, 2010 - 03:27 PM

Virginia’s governor, Sen. Warner and other members of the congressional delegation met for more than an hour today with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and afterwards the Virginians were cautiously optimistic about preserving significant pieces of Joint Forces Command in Hampton Roads.

On August 9th, Secretary Gates announced a plan to shut-down JFCOM, which employs 3,900 people in Hampton Roads and 6,000 altogether.

State officials described it as “a productive meeting,” but cautioned that Gates made no promises, according to the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.

 

JFCOM1-11232010

 

“This is still a moving target,” McDonnell said after the meeting. The Pentagon did agree to allow state advisors and military experts to be involved in meetings with Gen. Ray Odierno, a four-star general who recently took command of JFCOM, about the specifics of disassembling the command and what to do with its various components.

Senator Warner noted that the federal government has invested $270 million in facilities in Suffolk alone, and would have to pay $60 million to break leases if they left completely.

Gates also agreed to allow state officials to consult with the federal government about his goal of reducing support contracts by 30 percent – a major concern in northern Virginia, home to many defense contracting companies.

JFCOM2-11232010

 

 

Senator Warner to co-chair bipartisan India Caucus

Nov 19, 2010 - 11:32 AM

Yesterday, Senator Warner announced that he will join Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) as a co-chair of the Senate India Caucus in January. Senator Warner will take the place of Senator Chris Dodd, who is retiring at the end of the year.

“Building upon our strong relationship with India makes smart strategic sense for our nation and good economic sense for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and I look forward to working closely with my colleagues to strengthen this important relationship,” Sen. Warner said.

“In 2005, I was the first U.S. governor to lead a trade delegation to India, and I developed a lot of respect for India’s fast-growing and vibrant economy. I also have worked closely for many years with leading entrepreneurs in the Indian-American IT community, so I have a deep appreciation for India’s prominent role in Virginia’s future economic success.”

The Senate India Caucus is a bipartisan coalition that brings national attention to domestic and international issues that affect our economies and security.

Virginia exports to India in 2009 increased 50% to a combined $284 million, led by coal ($139 million), paper and paperboard products (almost $22 million) and electrical and industrial machinery (combined $37 million), according to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

Click here to read the full press release

 

Day Four on the Peninsula and in Hampton Roads

Nov 18, 2010 - 05:51 PM

Senator Warner began the fourth and final day of our trip last Friday at a breakfast meeting of the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce in Newport News, where he discussed his compromise proposal on the Dec. 31st expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts. The Daily Press reported on his response:

Warner, speaking to the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce in Newport News Friday morning, argued that an equal amount in business tax cuts [instead of cuts for the 2% most wealthy] would do a better job of jump-starting the economy than "an across-the-board cut for the wealthiest."

Warner said that approach could target investment in research and development, capital investment or cutting payroll taxes employers pay when they hire new people. Warner said he is tired of hearing that there are only two options on the Bush era tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year.

"I'm open to compromise, to changing the idea," Warner said. "Washington ought to have the humility to ask the business community (how to cut taxes) instead of dictating to them."

We travelled next to Nauticus in Norfolk to announce the schedule for the ground-breaking of the Port of Virginia’s Craney Island expansion project.

The Virginia Port Authority recently awarded the first contract to begin construction, and Senator Warner said the project is expected to create at least 1,100 construction jobs with an annual payroll approaching $37 million. Once completed, the Craney Island expansion project is expected to create 54 ,000 Port jobs with wages of $1.7 billion and annual state and local tax revenues of $155 million.

The Virginian-Pilot covered the event:

Warner told maritime industry stakeholders that the economic challenges the nation now faces have only increased the importance of the Craney project.

"The day when the American consumer alone - or their credit card - can fuel America and the world's economy, alone, is not coming back..." he said. "The only long-term hope for American supremacy in the 21st century is to dramatically grow our ability to trade and export to the rest of the world."

Finally, the Senator spoke at the Naval Aviation Centennial, which celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the First Flight from a Ship. The Centennial featured a 12 minute flight by a replica of a century-old biplane. The Pilot noted Senator Warner’s response to the flight:

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., one of the guest speakers, pronounced the spectacle "very cool." He walked up to Andrew King, Coolbaugh's backup pilot, and asked: "Are you slightly crazy?”

Check out video from the Virginian Pilot of the biplane flight:

Senator Warner's op-ed in the Financial Times

Nov 16, 2010 - 10:36 AM

Obama's alternative to repeal of Bush tax cuts

By Mark R. Warner, The Financial Times

When the US Congress returns next week it must decide what to do about the Bush administration’s tax cuts, due to expire in December. Against the backdrop of a frustratingly weak recovery, and amid justifiable concerns about a ballooning deficit, a bipartisan consensus has formed around at least maintaining these tax breaks for 98 per cent of Americans. The debate is now whether we should extend tax relief to the top 2 per cent, who earn more than $250,000 each year.

Republicans tend to argue that this is no time to remove spending power from an economy struggling to find its legs. Many Democrats meanwhile see re-instituting higher rates on top wage earners as a first step toward deficit reduction, and one that would present little hardship for wealthier taxpayers. A potential compromise to temporarily extend all the tax breaks for two more years has also gained traction in recent weeks, which the administration is actively considering.

However, this latter approach has problems beyond the $65bn that would be added to the deficit if we keep the cuts for people on the highest incomes. In Washington such “temporary” benefits also have a strange way of becoming permanent. What’s more, if Congress can justify punting on a politically difficult decision, it invariably will.

Meanwhile the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has told us that extending tax breaks for the top 2 per cent would do little to stimulate our economy.

Instead the administration should consider an alternative compromise.

Extend the tax cuts just for 98 per cent, allowing the cuts for top wage earners to expire as scheduled. But instead of removing $65bn from the economy, we should work with the business community to enact $65bn in new, targeted business tax cuts and incentives to spur private-sector investment.

The logic of this proposal is clear. Our nation’s tax discussion occurs as we look for ways to jump-start the recovery through private-sector job growth. Yet while investment and job creation by businesses remains anaemic, corporate America is more profitable today than in the years leading into this recession. After two years of operational streamlining and painful payroll cuts, leading US corporations reported nearly $2 trillion in cash on their balance sheets at the end of the second quarter.

Yet these businesses currently appear reluctant to invest or create new jobs. Business leaders are understandably concerned about future demand. They also are hedging their bets until the economy begins to fire on all cylinders – and all in the knowledge that government’s traditional tools of monetary policy and fiscal stimulus are already deployed. That means our focus must turn to ways to encourage the private sector to move their trillions in cash off the sidelines and back into our economy.

My proposal does not grow the size of government, or increase tax revenues. Instead it moves tax cuts from one area to another, in order to encourage jobs and investment. It would also provide an excellent opportunity for policymakers to begin to repair their recent frayed relations with leaders of the US business community, at first by working together in a constructive partnership to determine exactly what these business incentives might look like.

In collaboration with business leaders, we might consider a more generous R&D tax credit, which clearly helps to fuel innovation, as well as more generous tax allowances for the expensing of business investment and some fine-tuning of depreciation allowances. Finally other short-term incentives that promote additional hiring, such as a temporary reduction in the payroll taxes paid by employers who hire new workers, could be part of any package.

As we think about how to strengthen our recovery and lower the deficit, I urge all parties to consider a constructive discussion about business tax policies as part of the solution. The extension of the Bush-era tax cuts presents an excellent opportunity to forge this new partnership – but only if all parties put aside partisan talking points. We should all be able to agree that additional investment by the private sector, and not simply by the government, must provide the fuel for the recovery that ultimately will power the growth and competitiveness of our nation.


What people are saying: 

One idea gaining attention is a proposal from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) to let the cuts for the rich lapse and replace them with $65 billion worth of targeted tax cuts for business. Instead of being shaped in Washington, the tax cuts would be designed by business leaders.

"That would be a wonderful short-term incentive to get them to move cash off the sidelines" and into the struggling economy, Warner said in an interview.

- Obama seeking compromise on Bush tax cuts (Washington Post 11/13/10)

###

As the White House staff settles on a strategy for the tax cut debate, they should consider an idea put forward by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). He has suggested that rather than extending the tax cuts for the top two percent, Congress consider a number of business tax cuts that would be far more likely to spur job creation and more sustained economic growth. He proposed a range of possible business tax cuts to create jobs, but my favorite is a temporary tax credit against payroll taxes. That is a direct way to reduce the costs of businesses hiring new workers, and I hope the White House includes this idea in whatever proposal it puts forward for consideration at next week’s bipartisan Congressional meeting.

The kinds of ideas put forward by Sen. Warner combined with middle class tax cuts and extending unemployment insurance are far sounder as temporary measures to aid economic recovery compared to Republicans’ push to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent. We obviously cannot afford to do that, but as a temporary measure to help American workers and our economy there are better measures than TARP 2 bonuses for millionaires.

TARP 2: No Way To Create Jobs And Help Our Nation’s Economy Grow And Prosper(John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, former Clinton Administration Chief of Staff, on Think Progress blog 11/12/10)

###

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said in a separate Bloomberg Television interview that he favored allowing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to lapse and using the additional revenue for "targeted business-tax cuts" to encourage companies to hire more workers.

"Democrats are right" that a permanent extension of tax cuts for the highest-income Americans would add $700 billion to the deficit, said Warner, a former businessman who started a cellular telephone company. "Republicans are right" to argue that "if you take that money out of the economy you could perhaps stall the recovery," he said.

- Obama is open to compromise on tax cuts (Associated Press 11/14/10)

###

Olberman: What do you think of this Warner plan, what Senator Mark Warner says, spend 70 billion but do it on jobs and business incentives?

Reich: Everybody is in favor of it and I like the idea in principle.

- Keith Olberman & Robert Reich (MSNBC's "Countdown" 11/12/10)

Day Three: Hampton Roads and the Peninsula

Nov 15, 2010 - 02:21 PM

On Veterans’ Day, Senator Warner began the second leg of our week of traveling at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. The Senator attended a MissionServe.org service project that involved 100 military families, veterans, civilians, and students creating 400 care packages and writing letters together to support military families of deployed servicemembers. 

 

The Senator also received the Second Annual Mission Serve Award for Excellence in Military and Civilian Service for his dedication to service and our communities. Ross Cohen, an Afghanistan veteran and director of the Mission Serve initiative, presented the award.

“Veterans and their families are not charity cases - they want to give back and continue to serve when they come home,” Cohen said. “And no one understands that better than Senator Mark Warner.”

The Senator then travelled to Williamsburg, to celebrate the naming of the Lewis Puller Veteran's Benefits Clinic Naming Ceremony. The Clinic is one of only a handful in the country that focuses on joining in the fight to secure veterans their benefits. 

The Clinic was named after late Marine officer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lewis B. Puller Jr, whose wife, State Senator Toddy Puller, attended the naming ceremony as well. 

In a short speech during the ceremony, Senator Warner said:

“One of the things that's so great about Virginia is that we don’t just honor our veterans on Veterans’ Day, we honor them every single day. Working to help veterans get their benefits is just one example.” 

After the ceremony, the Senator made a quick stop at the NASA Langley Research Center to visit the Virginia-based engineering team that assisted with the extraction of the trapped Chilean miners on October 13.  The Senator presented the team with a flag flown over the Capitol Building and asked the engineers’ children if they thought what their parents had done was “cool.”

_DSC0633

“You can turn on TV and not see much good news,” Senator Warner said, “But the whole world stopped to watch this. This is a real reminder of the American can-do spirit.” 

Finally, the Senator met with members of the NASA Aeronautics Support Team, elected officials and community leaders at the Virginia Air & Space Center in Hampton.  The participants discussed opportunities to create public and private investment in moving the ball forward on aeronautics and green aviation.

More on Day Four of the trip to come soon.

Day Two in the Shenandoah Valley

Nov 9, 2010 - 09:20 PM

Our second day of travel in the Shenandoah Valley began in Hot Springs, where Senator Warner delivered the keynote address for the Virginia Association of Counties annual conference. Senator Warner praised the hundreds of local elected officials for their continued hard work before taking questions from the crowd.

"We all in Washington have to pass difficult legislation, “ the Senator said, "But you know, you all have the really difficult job: actually implementing that legislation."

After a quick drive over to Buena Vista, the Senator got a briefing from the Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board at the Dabney S. Lancaster Community College’s Rockbridge Regional Center.  The Senator was updated on the status of a $5 million investment in green jobs  issued in February which will provide green job training for one-thousand people in the area. The Senator told Joe Dashiell of WDBJ 7

"I think over the next 25 years there's going to be more jobs and wealth created around the world in the energy sector than any other sector," Warner said, "and it would be a shame if America ceded that leadership in areas like renewable energies … to other countries like China."

Our last stop of the trip was at the Poff Building in Roanoke, where the Senator toured the Veterans Affairs Regional Office and spoke with leadership about efforts to address a backlog in processing VA claims.  

On Thursday and Friday, Senator Warner will honor military families and veterans at a series of events across Hampton Roads. Check back here for updates. 

Day One in the Shenandoah Valley

Nov 8, 2010 - 09:29 PM

Senator Warner began two days of travel in the Shenandoah Valley by honoring veterans at a lunch at the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park. The Senator touched on efforts he had made to aid veterans and streamline service providing as governor and now senator. The senator specifically discussed his recent efforts to get the VA to study female vets suffering from PTSD.

"There is no place in Iraq or Afghanistan that is truly behind the battle lines," Senator Warner said. "We need to honor the sacrifices of ALL our veterans."

Later in the day, Senator Warner participated in a roundtable discussion about consolidating and improving tourism outreach by Valley groups and destinations at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton. As governor, Senator Warner led a very successful effort to better market and package tourism in Southwest Virginia. One of the better known results of this effort is the Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail.

Senator Warner encouraged the organizations to coordinate their efforts. "You have world class destinations here," he said. "the name Shenandoah is recognized worldwide."

After a winding drive through the mountains, we arrived at our final destination for the day: Highland County. Local vets gave Senator Warner a tour of the new Highland Veterans Memorial Walk of Honor in Monterey, before heading to the historic Highland Inn for coffee and conversation.

Senator Warner took questions on the economy and politics and ended by urging participants to remain optimistic about prospects for the U.S.

"I still wouldn't bet against America," Senator Warner said.

Privacy Policy | RSS Feeds