Senator Warner participated in a panel discussion on reigning-in federal budget deficits this morning hosted by the Center for American Progress and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

He shared the lessons he learned as the Governor of Virginia, when he worked with a Republican-majority state legislature to turn huge budget shortfalls into a surplus through steep spending cuts and broad government efficiency reforms. When it then became clear that additional revenue would be needed to close a structural budget deficit, then-Governor Warner explained the problem, solicited ideas for a solution, and generated a bipartisan consensus through more than 60 town hall meetings across the Commonwealth.

Today’s panel was part of a conference which focused on when and how deficits should be addressed. The Center for American Progress and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities jointly released a report which concluded that:

“Everything the government does will have to be examined -- from Social Security to agricultural subsidies, social programs, and education spending -- and everyone will have areas they carve out as sacrosanct and areas they don’t. This will clearly require a balanced approach, and it is important that the balance is right so that the solution is not worse than the problem.”

Pat Garofalo from Think Progress’s “Wonk Room” relayed Senator Warner’s comments about how health reform plays such a large role in helping to curb our budget deficit:

"If we think we’re going to continue to have health care inflation at the rate we’re having it, by simply expanding coverage without driving down the cost curve, [without limiting] the rate of health care spending increases, we’re cooked. Game over. It will explode the deficit, it will make us financially non-competitive in the global economy, it’ll rob middle-class Americans of their disposable income."