Senator Warner spoke at a Brookings Institute conference exploring role of private capital in revitalizing the economy both in the United States and abroad.

 

The nation's innovation and growth agenda needs an overhaul to help America stay competitive, and early-stage capital can and should play an important role in economic growth, Senator Warner said.

Uncertainty surrounding regulations has made private and corporate investors cautious, Senator Warner says. He noted that regulations are always cumulative and that a regulatory pay-go approach would be an improvement.

The Senator says both President Obama's stimulus plan and President Bush's TARP program have been harshly criticized, but without them, Warner notes, the economy would be exponentially worse.

While we need to focus on the deficit, Senator Warner said, both sides of the political aisle have played political games over the Bush tax cuts.