Today Senator Warner hosted 13 college students from across the country who had participated in the ‘Up to Us’ campaign, a year-long campus competition that engaged students to find innovative ways of highlighting the federal government’s massive long-term debt.  The group included 7 students from the University of Virginia, the winners by virtue of their diverse efforts to involve students, civilians, and public officials in the larger debt discussion. 

Senator Warner praised the students’ work and reaffirmed the importance of finding consensus on a way to resolve the pressing debt issue.  He told them that he thinks the President’s latest budget is a step in the right direction.

“The President’s budget isn’t perfect, “said Senator Warner, “but the he fact that he’s getting it from both sides means that he must be in the zone. 

“There has to be a willingness to get some new ideas into this debate,” he continued, “so we don’t keep renegotiating the same terms as we were back in 2011.”

At the end of the meeting, after the students had posed with Senator Warner for a photo, there were some grumbles as he asked to take another with only the UVA students.  But as Senator Warner noted they were, after all, the winners.