Webb, Warner introduce Bay-restoration bill

AFP

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Jim Webb, D-Va. have introduced legislation that would bring increased accountability measures and a more collaborative management approach to Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts. The Chesapeake Bay Accountability and Recovery Act of 2011 requires the Office of Management and Budget to prepare a crosscut budget to better track the…

Warner, Webb join in effort to ensure retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers

AFP

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) and Jim Webb (D-Va.) filed legislation today that would ensure that federal workers receive retroactive pay for the duration of a potential government shutdown. Currently, federal pay is suspended in the event of a funding lapse or government shutdown, and retroactive payment for…

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…