Warner staff office hours in Staunton on Tuesday
Any Virginia residents that need assistance with a federal agency such as the IRS, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the Social Security Administration, or would just like to pass along a concern to Sen. Mark Warner, please feel free to come and speak with a representative from Sen. Warner’s office on Tuesday, Oct. 11, from 10:30 am to noon at the Staunton City Hall Caucus Room, 116 W. Beverley St.
Constituents can always contact any one of the senator’s offices directly. The Roanoke office can be reached at 540-857-2676.
Warner announces support for tourism initiative
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) today announced his support for bipartisan legislation that will increase international tourism by cutting excessively long wait times for overseas visitors to receive U.S. tourist visas. The legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), would give the U.S. State Department more tools and new incentives to streamline visa processing services without compromising the security of our borders or American citizens.
Tourism is one of Virginia’s largest industries, generating more than $17 billion in revenue. According to the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC), tourism supports more than 200,000 Virginia jobs and contributes an estimated $1.24 billion in state and local tax revenue for the Commonwealth annually.
“Tourism is big business in Virginia, but a key obstacle to increasing the number of foreign travelers is our burdensome U.S. visa system,” Warner said. “If we want to grow these numbers, we need to look at smart visa reforms that promote international travel without compromising U.S. security.”
In China, those who want to visit the United States often face waits of up to 120 days. In Brazil, it can take up to 145 days to process a U.S. travel visa, while a visa that permits a Brazilian citizen to visit the UK can be processed in about two weeks.
“Would you wait more than four months for a travel visa?” Warner asked. “The U.S. requirement for a mandatory face-to-face interview with a consular official before issuing a visa was enacted shortly after 9/11. This legislation would allow the State Department to exercise its discretion and extend some of these one-year tourist visas for up to four-years. That will encourage more foreign visitation by reducing the backlog of individuals waiting for interviews. It also allows our U.S. embassies and consulates to focus on commonsense risk profiles, and stop wasting their limited resources interviewing grandmothers who simply want to visit their loved ones in Virginia.”
The U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world in the international tourism market. U.S. Commerce Department figures show that the United States’ share of overseas arrivals has fallen from 17 to 12.4 percent since 2000, even as worldwide travel grew by 40 percent over the same timeframe. The loss of even one percentage point of the total world international travel market potentially costs the United States 161,000 jobs.
The Klobuchar/Blunt legislation would help alleviate the excessively long wait times at some embassies and consulates, and help give the State Department the tools and incentives it needs to address this pressing issue. The bill would:
· Incentivize the State Department – without risking security – to improve the visa process by allowing the Department to reinvest fees charged for visas if additional personnel will help improve efficiency.
· Allow the Secretary of State, in appropriate circumstances, to grant a waiver of up to 3 additional years (4 years total) for foreigners to renew their tourist visas without requiring the tourist to go through an in-person interview each year.
· Require the State Department to provide a report to Congress outlining how the Department is using Department of Commerce travel data in order to further improve the visa process.
“Tourism is a powerful engine for job creation in Virginia and in local communities across the country,” Warner said. “By making it easier to travel to the United States without compromising important national security safeguards, we could create new jobs and strengthen local economies without spending one dime of American taxpayer dollars.”
Warner announces bipartisan debt-reduction panel
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today announced that he has organized a bipartisan coalition representing more than one-third of the members of the U.S. Senate to encourage the members of the congressional “super committee” to seek the broadest possible bipartisan agreement to address the nation’s deficits and debt. This group of 36 Senators — 18 Republicans, 17 Democrats and one Independent — builds upon Sen. Warner’s yearlong efforts, along with Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), to craft a deficit and debt framework as the two co-founders of the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Six.”
“Our 11th hour Gang of Six agreement to eliminate $3.7 trillion from the national debt came too late to be considered as part of the early August deadline to raise the debt limit, but the tough fiscal choices that our nation faces continue to get more difficult every day,” Sen. Warner said. “The 12 members of the super committee have been tasked with reaching a bipartisan consensus on a plan to begin eliminating $1.5 trillion from our debt over the next ten years. Frankly, that’s not nearly bold enough to truly fix our nation’s balance sheet.”
“I am pleased to have partnered once again with my colleague and friend Saxby Chambliss to organize this new bipartisan group representing nearly one-third of the members of the U.S. Senate. Our coalition of 36 senators has agreed to work together to encourage the ‘super committee’ to act boldly to reach the broadest possible agreement to strengthen our economy, encourage more job creation and greater investment, and to begin putting America back on a sustainable fiscal path,” Sen. Warner said.
“We have come together today to demonstrate that there is broad, bipartisan support within the U.S. Senate for a responsible fiscal plan that cuts federal spending, reforms the tax code, and protects and strengthens our entitlement programs over the long-term,” said Sen. Warner.
“If we don’t responsibly address the debt issue now, for the first time in the history of our country, our generation is going to leave the next generation an America that is not as good and wholesome as the America we inherited,” Sen. Chambliss said. “Until we do something about it, that debt is increasing by about $4 billion a day.”
The 36 Senators have agreed to the following statement of principles:
“As a bipartisan group of Senators, we will encourage and support the Super Committee in fulfilling its mission. We are here to support a deficit reduction package consistent with the following principles that should:
Include enough deficit reduction to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy, and put the debt on a downward path, and provide fiscal certainty. We believe a reasonable target is at least $4 trillion, including previously enacted deficit measures. This will send the right message to the financial markets.
Use the established, bipartisan debt and deficit reduction frameworks as a starting point for discussions.
Focus on the major parts of the budget and include long-term entitlement reforms and pro-growth tax reform.
Be structured to grow the economy in the short, medium and long-term.
Work to include the American public and the business community in a broader discussion about the breadth of the issues, challenges and opportunities facing us.”
The 36 participants include these members of the U.S. Senate:
Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA)
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK)
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE)
Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN)
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC)
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)
Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO)
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Warner delivers thank-yous to Navy Seals
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner today delivered more than 1,200 messages of support and appreciation to U.S. Navy special operations personnel representing the successful military operation that eliminated Al Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. The ‘thank you’ notes were submitted through a message board set-up on Sen. Warner’s website, and through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the week following the successful U.S. military mission.
“These messages reflect a spontaneous outpouring of support, respect and appreciation for all of our men and women in uniform,” Warner said. “The messages come from military families, veterans, entire schools and hundreds of Virginians who simply wanted an opportunity to say ‘thanks’ to these remarkable warriors,” Warner said.
Over the course of the week, news of Sen. Warner’s ‘thank you’ initiative spread beyond Virginia and hundreds of supportive messages poured-in from people across the country and around the world, including messages from citizens of Canada, India, Ireland, Israel and the United Kingdom.
• “As a lifelong resident of Hampton Roads, it is all too easy to take the military for granted. We are your neighbors, classmates, and friends. We are blessed to have you.”
• “A huge thank you and to let you know how proud we are from Mr. Underwood’s 5th grade class at Rocky Gap, Va. Elementary School!”
• “Our 2nd grader came home from school and said, ‘Our guys killed a very bad man who hurt those people in the twin towers. We got him, Mommy.’ Yes, we did. Thank you.”• “I was five when Bin Laden and Al Qaeda attacked the twin towers, and I have never truly felt safe since. Thank you for giving that back to me. You all have inspired me to join the United States military when I am older.”
• “Most of the time no one knows what you do, where you do it or even if you actually exist. We still don’t know who you are, but we do know what you did. Thank you.”
• “This Marine mom wants to thank you so much for your service! We rest easier knowing you are out there protecting us.”
• ”I have no words to describe the men who were on this mission. I never realized ordinary men could be so extraordinary.”
• “As the daughter of a career Navy Senior Chief, I wish he had lived long enough to hear about what you all did. He would have smiled and said, ‘Damn right — they’re Navy!’”
• “From a Navy officer who lost a friend on the USS Cole and a colleague at the Pentagon on 9/11: Many of us who have fought and served for these many years can now feel vindicated and proud.”
• “We are all so proud of you and so thankful for your service to Virginia, the nation, and the world. You do us proud.”
• “My family in NY who lost a loved one on Sept 11 is forever indebted to all of you.”
• “You have provided an opportunity for every American to move beyond the grief and horror of 9/11 and face our future with confidence and pride. That is huge.”
• “How do you thank someone who saves the world? I will pay it forward. Thank you for being a hero to my kids.”
“Members of our special forces community recognize that their successes usually cannot be celebrated with public parades and press conferences,” Warner said. “That doesn’t mean we cannot look for creative ways to express our respect and appreciation while still protecting their identities and their safety. I am pleased to share these messages of thanks with the entire military community here in Hampton Roads.”
Janice “Jay” Johnson: Cutting Social Security is a dangerous calculation
Sen. Mark Warner and the “Gang of Six” are close to a debt reduction deal and it looks like there will be substantial cuts to programs like Social Security.
There is no denying that reducing the deficit is important, especially after the problematic recent Standard and Poors rating. But the question is, how. I have a couple suggestions for the Gang of Six.
1.) Social Security does not contribute a penny to the deficit; it should not be cut to reduce the deficit. The program has a $2.6 trillion surplus. With modest, reasonable reforms like scrapping the pay roll tax cap, all promised benefits can be paid. Not only is the program efficient and cost effective to run, Social Security lifts 20 million Americans out of poverty.
2.) Let the Bush tax cuts expire and ask corporations to pay their fair share. The Bush tax cuts will cost us nearly $1 trillion to keep in place for the next 10 years. This amounts to 1/6 of the deficit reduction proposed in the House Republican budget proposal. Meanwhile, we have recently been reminded that many corporations pay no taxes at all. In fact, sometimes we pay them. Bank of America received a $1.9 billion refund from the IRS. GE received $4.1 billion from the IRS even though they have recently sent 1/5 of their jobs overseas.
Any reasonable look at our deficit problems must include closing corporate tax loopholes and must not gut vital programs like Social Security, relied on by millions of seniors like myself.
Janice “Jay” Johnson is the treasurer of Virginia Organizing.
Warner pushes Valley tourist-sector development
It can be like trying to herd cats to get localities to cooperate in the Shenandoah Valley on a strategy to promote the tourist sector.
For one, what is the Shenandoah Valley?
“How do you define the Shenandoah Valley?” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner asked the roughly 30 attendees at a Shenandoah Valley Regional Tourism Roundtable that he convened at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton on Monday.
The discussion that ensued – encompassing political, geological and cultural definitions – demonstrated the difficulty in trying to get people in the Valley tourist sector to come together on a plan of action.
Warner told reporters after the summit that he called together tourism-industry leaders to try to jumpstart the kind of effort that he did with success in Southwest Virginia during his term as governor.
“I’d seen some of the stuff take a little more root in Southwest Virginia,” Warner said. “I just feel like there are such assets here in the Shenandoah Valley, and I think about this as a consumer and as a promoter that it’s still – as much as they’ve got, it could be better. It could be presented better.”
Warner asked participants if it wouldn’t make more sense for localities and travel-industry associations to coordinate their web and print marketing efforts. The feedback: We could, but we could use some help getting there.
“When I was governor, I’d come to an event like this with a check in hand,” Warner joked in response, alluding to the tight fiscal environment in Washington.
A goal for Warner with the summit was to get people in the tourist industry talking – and thinking.
“It’s hard for a local jurisdiction to think, I’ve only got a tiny little bit of money, how do i not just promote what’s in Waynesboro, what’s in Staunton, what’s in Rockbridge? The idea here was saying, maybe you take 90 cents on the dollar and spend it on local, and you take 10 cents on the dollar goes to more regional efforts,” Warner said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Mark Warner: A bipartisan center forms in the U.S. Senate
Posted by afp on October 4, 2011 · 2 Comments
As our country’s $14.7 trillion national debt grows by more than $5 billion each day, and as a divided and dysfunctional Congress seemingly punts on responsible solutions to many of our toughest problems, is it any wonder that close to 9-in-10 Americans in a recent opinion poll said they strongly disapprove of the partisan gridlock they see in Washington?
At the beginning of August, Virginians witnessed an especially ugly and embarrassing political fight over raising the nation’s debt limit. The deal ultimately reached by Congress cut nearly $1 trillion in federal spending in the current budget, and created a bipartisan commission of six senators and six representatives to identify by Thanksgiving an additional $1.2 – $1.5 trillion in savings over the next decade.
I am hopeful this new commission will succeed, despite my belief that even $1.5 trillion in additional debt reduction is not nearly enough to truly begin fixing our nation’s finances. That’s why I have encouraged the 12 members of the Joint Select Committee to build upon the solid work and recommendations already proposed by several other bipartisan groups, including the Senate’s so-called Gang of Six, which I was proud to have formed earlier this year with my Republican colleague, Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.
Every independent, bipartisan analysis, including the Gang of Six, has concluded it will require at least $4 trillion in debt reduction to begin responsibly tackling our fiscal challenges. Every independent and bipartisan analysis also has concluded it will require a balanced approach that includes a blend of spending cuts, tax reform that eliminates some deductions while lowering overall tax rates, and phasing-in rational reforms to entitlement programs to protect and strengthen programs like Medicare and Social Security over the long-term.
We have a second chance to do the right thing with the creation of this Joint Select Committee, but we will never be successful unless we finally break out of our partisan trenches and agree to work together.
That’s why Sen. Chambliss and I in recent weeks have been reaching out to our Senate colleagues, on both sides of the political aisle, in a bipartisan effort to broaden and expand our Gang of Six. And I can tell you that the response from our colleagues has been remarkable.
On Sept. 15, more than one-third of the 100 members of the United States Senate stood with us to encourage the members of the Joint Select Committee to go beyond their mandate and reach for more than just $2.2 trillion in debt reduction.
In fact, 39 Senators in all – 20 Republicans, 18 Democrats and one independent – have now joined us to issue a strong, bipartisan appeal for the so-called super committee to “go big.” It was an impressive demonstration of bipartisan support and encouragement for their efforts.
“We know that this debt is choking this country. We feel it is time to check our political hats at the door,” Sen. Chambliss said.
“We’re with you,” said Senate Budget Chairman and North Dakota Democrat Kent Conrad. “Be brave. Be bold. Go big.”
“Let’s set expectations much higher than where they are,” echoed New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte. ”Show some courage. We will be with you.”
“If you take a look at this picture of the gathered senators, it’s exactly the opposite of what the American people think is going on here on Capitol Hill,” said Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin. “What we’re trying to tell you is there is a real honest conversation taking place between Democrats and Republicans on tackling the biggest financial challenge this country has ever faced.”
This bipartisan statement by more than one-third of the members of the U.S. Senate may have been summed-up best by Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski:
“If you don’t leave here today feeling a little more confident that this Congress, or at least this Senate, can act together, not for the good of our respective parties but for the good of the American people, then I would suggest you didn’t pay close enough attention to those who are gathered here today.”
So yes, Virginia, I can tell you there is such a thing as a “radical bipartisan center,” and I am very proud to be one of its founding members.
Mark Warner is a United States Senator.
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