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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Virginia's two U.S. senators on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to carry out a previous plan to lease almost 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) in federal waters off the state's coastline to oil and natural gas companies. The lawmakers said in a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that recent comments by a department official that the Virginia lease sale originally planned for late 2011 would be delayed until 2012 at the earliest are frustrating given that drilling creates jobs and needed energy supplies. The offshore Virginia area that would be leased may hold 130...

> break < In addition to adding an estimated 261,927 people to Virginia's Medicaid rolls, Sens. James Webb and Mark Warner "charitably" committed Virginians to pick up the Medicaid tab for half-a-dozen other states. > break < We commit one-sixth of the state budget to Medicaid - $7 billion a year. Now Virginia's two senators hope to impose on their own state a federally mandated increase in Medicaid enrollment of nearly 30 percent. > break < Mr. Webb, in particular, had the tough talk down pat - insisting that true reform must not create "a cumbersome, overly bureaucratic system." He...

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., who pledged a tight-fisted approach to federal spending, is being criticized as anything but by a living symbol of Virginia fiscal conservatism. Former Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr., I-Va., while describing Warner as "my friend," expressed dismay yesterday that the freshman senator backed on party-line votes spending and health-care bills that balloon the deficit by more than $1 trillion. "When a Virginia Democrat is elected to the Congress -- Senate or House -- he or she must decide whether to vote the party line or vote the Virginia tradition of financial responsibility," said Byrd, who...

The text that is in quotes are excerpts from Warner's canned response back to my first letter asking him to not support the bill! “...As the debate in Congress continues, it is of utmost importance to recognize that our current health care system is financially unsustainable. ..." Only the government run systems are unsustainable! All current US State run systems (Ca, Mass, Tenn, others) are in the red and don’t even come close to living up toward the extravagant promises made by the state politicians that insisted on them. In fact these systems sole recourse is to pass costs to...

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Virginia, said that he voted in favor of the health-care overhaul because he thinks it will lower health-care costs...Warner and Virginia's senior senator, Jim Webb, also a Democrat, recorded their votes to advance the legislation. In the end, the Senate's 58 Democrats and two independents voted to prevent a filibuster and move the bill toward likely passage before Christmas... Webb said the debate "often overwhelmed the substance" of fixing the problem. Warner and Webb said they thought that late changes in the Senate bill improved it. Warner cited the dropping of the public option. But Warner,...

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling sent a strongly worded letter to Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner Monday expressing outrage over special concessions given to certain states to obtain support for federal health care legislation from their Senators and asking them to oppose this legislation, which Bolling called “misguided.” “As you know, one of our major concerns with this legislation is the potential impact it could have on the cost of Medicaid for Virginia’s state government,” wrote Bolling. “Many reports have suggested that this legislation could result in much higher Medicaid costs for state governments across the nation, costs that state...

On December 8, Senator Warner and 10 other Freshman Senators introduced the "Value and Innovation" amendment package, aimed at encouraging innovation and affordability for consumers across the U.S. health care system. Supporters of the package include: AARP; Business Roundtable; Safeway; New America Foundation; AFL-CIO; National Partnership for Women and Families; CEO Workgroup for Health Reform; Center for American Progress; Healthcare Leadership Council; Catholic Healthcare West; Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association; Carilion Clinic; David Cutler (Harvard Economist); Consumers Union; Small Business Majority; Walmart; Kelly Services International; Intel; US PIRG; Better Health Care Together; Brookings; Pacific Business Group on Health; Quadgraphics; Health...

The nation’s richest senator - the Bay State’s own John Forbes Kerry - has been knocked down a few notches after seeing his fortune sliced by one-third by the fiscal meltdown that ripped down Wall Street. Kerry’s personal net worth plunged from an estimated $336 million in 2007 to $208 million in 2008, according to a study by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. The Boston Democrat’s staggering losses dropped him from first to third among the wealthiest senators, trailing Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) “So does this mean Senator Kerry is now arriving in Nantucket by ferry...

Friend -- Saturday evening, my Senate colleagues and I were given an opportunity to take the next step in fixing our nation's health care system. I voted in favor of bringing the health care reform bill to the Senate floor because I want an opportunity to work on strengthening and improving the legislation. If we do not work toward real health care reform, families will face rising premiums, employers will remain at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace, and federal budget deficits will go from bad to worse. Thus far, only those senators on the health and finance committees...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Both of Virginia's U.S. senators say they will vote to allow debate on the Senate version of health-care overhaul legislation, but neither has committed to voting for the actual bill. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., got an earful on the subject from a group of small-business owners in Carytown yesterday while protesters rallied outside Warner and Sen. Jim Webb's Richmond offices. *break* Warner, who said he wants to see more cost containment in the Senate's legislation before he can support it, responded that he hasn't committed to vote for the bill. "If it doesn't improve, chances are...

Arguments that the individual mandate in healthcare reform is unconstitutional are "spurious," one centrist Democrat said this week. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) dismissed questions about the individual mandate's constitutionality, which conservatives activists have questioned. "The United States Congress passed laws regarding Medicare and Medicaid that became de facto mandatory programs," Warner told the conservative CNSNews.com in a video posted Friday. "I think that this is a bit of a spurious argument that’s being made by some folks."

“I wish the president would have started the debate by explaining to the American people that our current health care system is not financially sustainable, for even another decade,” Mr. Warner said. “Driving down health care costs should have been the focus of the debate.”

Talk about bad timing. As Washington reels from the news of 10.2 percent unemployment, the Center for Responsive Politics is out with a new report describing the wealth of members of Congress. Among the highlights: Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall. CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen....

At a packed town meeting of over 1,000 people hosted by Democrat Sen. Mark Warner in Fredericksburg, Virginia, a woman prefaced her question by expressing a broader concern: “For the first time I don’t believe the President we have is a patriot. I think a lot of the concern and discontent is less about health care than trusting the agenda of this administration.” Sen. Warner harshly rebuked her, calling the remark offensive and declaring Obama “a great patriot.” Yet judging by the storm of applause that greeted her comment, she echoed the feelings of many others in the hall. What...

Fredericksburg, Va. (CNSNews.com) – During a town hall meeting at the Fredericksburg Expo Center, Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) said there is “no place in the Constitution” that mentions health care or education, or even gives individuals the right to own a telephone. “[L]isten, there is, there is no place in the Constitution that specifically says health care,” Warner said to a government high school teacher at the event, who asked him if the Constitution explicitly gives the government the right to run the health care system. “There’s no place in the Constitution that specifically says education,” said Warner. Moreover, he...

Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform with Sen. Warner WHEN: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) WHERE: Fredericksburg Expo Center, 2371 Carl D. Silver Parkway, Fredericksburg, VA 22401 You are asked to RSVP (requested for planning purposes) online at http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=townhall. RSVP does not guarantee admittance. Arrive early to ensure entry

Mark D. Obenshain I just received a call from a constituent who called to alert me that one of our United States Senators is having an unannounced "telephone town hall"about Health Care RIGHT NOW. That's right, at 5:30 on Monday night. The link below ...Read More Telephone Town Hall - Events - Mark R. Warner Source: warner.senate.gov As part of his ongoing conversation with Virginians about health care, Senator Warner will host another telephone town hall on Monday, August 24 at 5:30 p.m. More that 60,000 households across the Commonwealth will be invited to join the discussion and ask Senator...

Mark Warner Talks Health 'Scare Tactics' via kwout

<p>Just got this note in an email from a friend in SW Virginia.....</p> <p>I got a phone message from the pro health care group and I almost hung up. I decided to listen to the end, which wasn't very long, at the end they ask you to talk to Senator Warner and tell him to vote for health care and they offer to put you through to his office. I stayed on the line and punched #1 to be put through and a young man picked up the line right away , Senator Warner's office how can I help you". I of course told him I DIDN'T want the Gov. to vote for the health care package. The kid seemed stunned. He took my address and zip. Now I don't know if this was really his office or not but if it was I felt pretty good about using the dem's trick against them. The ID number comes up 000-000-0000 from this recored message.</p>

Pew Environment Group Launches Project to Highlight Link Between National Security, Energy, Climate Change The Pew Charitable Trusts has announced a new project designed to gather and share with the public viewpoints on the critical links between national security, energy, and global warming. Former Senator John Warner (R-VA) will work the Pew Environment Group on the Pew Project on National Security, Energy, and Climate, which will bring together science and military policy experts to examine new strategies for combating climate change, protecting national security, increasing energy independence, and preserving the nation's natural resources. Warner will work exclusively with state and...