Warner, Webb join group urging Boehner to avoid government shutdown

Chris Graham

A group of 16 moderate Democratic senators, led by Mark Udall of Colorado, today sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, urging him to prevent a shutdown of the federal government that would hurt our country’s still-fragile economy and distract from the need to work together to address greater, long-term fiscal challenges. The senators…

Warner copatroning bill to reduce federal print costs

Chris Graham

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., today introduced the “STOP the OverPrinting Act” (S. 210), the Senate version of House legislation requiring the Government Printing Office to post legislative bills and resolutions online instead of automatically printing and distributing them to each congressional office. The senators estimate that the legislation should…

Warner: FDIC hotline will help small businesses with access to credit

Chris Graham

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner today announced that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has established a new hotline to help small businesses struggling to access credit. The hotline was announced today by FDIC chair Sheila C. Bair at a small business forum with Sen. Warner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke held at George…

Warner pushes Valley tourist-sector development

Chris Graham

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…

Warner, McAuliffe: Don’t cede territory, and stand for something

Chris Graham

The driving force behind this blog is my effort to get my head around what happened in Virginia between 2008 and 2009 that turned the tide from where we saw the Old Dominion give its electoral votes to Democrat Barack Obama in ‘08 and then elected Republicans Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli to…

Warner addresses concerns of business owners in Staunton visit

Chris Graham

Confidence. That’s what America needs to get business moving again. “The challenge we have now is, what can we do to fix the confidence of the business community at large?” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told a group of business owners in Staunton on Wednesday. Warner did some talking and a lot of listening as…

Warner: ‘No’ to speculation on interest in White House post

Chris Graham

Mark Warner’s name has been mentioned as a possible choice to replace Rahm Emanuel if President Obama’s chief of staff as expected leaves the White House to run for the open mayor’s job in Chicago. Warner’s answer to the question when I posed it to him today: an emphatic “no.” “Nobody was more surprised to…

McDonnell, Warner, Webb still back drilling

Chris Graham

Virginia’s three top state elected leaders are holding to their support for exploratory oil and natural gas drilling off the coast of Virginia in the wake of the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. “We will learn from Louisiana. We will have additional federal regulations. We will have new technology. Once we get some…

Webb marks one year of Post-9/11 GI Bill

Chris Graham

Edited by Chris Graham [email protected]   Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. marked on Wednesday the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which has offered more than a quarter of a million veterans and their families the opportunity to attend college or training programs. After introducing the bill on his first day in…