His job title has changed, but U.S. Sen. Mark Warner’s focus on job creation and economic development remains intact.

Warner, a first-term senator who was governor from 2002 to 2006, outlined two proposals aimed at jump-starting the economy Monday while meeting with more than 50 community leaders at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville.

The first proposal would tap $30 billion of unused federal TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds to encourage community banks to make loans to existing small businesses, Warner said. Eligible companies would have some credit history but might have lost their credit lines at other banks when property values plummeted or sales dropped, said Warner, a Democrat.

“This is geared not so much to new business as (it is) to existing business,” he said. Because the funding is already in place, Warner said, the proposal “would not add $1 to the deficit.”

A majority of the funds could be directed to small businesses in communities such as Martinsville and Henry County and other areas that continue to struggle with high unemployment, he said.

Some communities, particularly those with lower unemployment rates, will recover on their own, Warner said. Although it might be difficult for Southside residents to believe, “we still have some communities with a 4 percent unemployment rate,” Warner said.

Under a second proposal, the U.S. Department of Commerce would create and administer a federal loan program to provide incentives to overseas employers locating in the United States.

China, India and many other countries already provide incentives of up to $12,000 per job to potential employers, Warner said.

Currently, “there is no state or federal program” in place to support jobs or companies moving to the United States, and states generally compete against each other, Warner said.

Broadband and other infrastructure would enhance the chance that businesses considering locating to the United States would look at rural areas, Warner said.

Under his proposal, loans could not be used to move a job from one state to another, but to lure information/technology and manufacturing jobs to areas of high unemployment or lower income in the United States, Warner said.

Interest-free loans of up to $10,000 per job would be given to state, local or regional economic development agencies, according to a release from Warner. Then, funds would be paid out to companies in two $5,000 per-job-per-year installments.

If the company keeps eligible jobs onshore, the initial repayment installment would be forgiven after the first year, the release stated. If eligible jobs remain for the entire second year of the loan, the second installment also would be forgiven.

Warner said the sectors of manufacturing and information/technology would be targeted because they often lead to other economic development such as suppliers, vendors and other providers.

“This is not a silver bullet. It would not solve all of our problems, but we’ve got to have tools” when competing in a global market, Warner said.

He does not know how long it might take for the measure to be approved or implemented. Nevertheless, Warner said, “I am very, very optimistic we will come out of this economic downturn.”

Health Care Reform

Legislation in Congress aimed at reforming the health care system is not perfect, but it would serve as a starting point and could be changed as needed in years to come, Warner said.

“If we do not do something to address health care, the financial cost of health care will destroy this country,” he said.

Health care reform legislation has passed the House and Senate. Next, conferees from both must meet to hammer out the differences between the bills.

If the reform proposal is defeated, small businesses’ insurance premiums will increase by double digits each year, Warner said. “Within the decade,” families could see up to 40 percent of their take-home pay spent on health care expenses, he said.

The current proposal will lower the cost of premiums, reduce the deficit and add nine years to the life of the Medicare Trust Fund, Warner said.

He and about a dozen Senate colleagues added 35 amendments to the bill, most of which are meant to control costs by encouraging transparency and changing the way doctors are compensated, Warner said.

Currently, physicians are paid according to volume (the number of visits, tests and/or procedures), he said. That method must be changed to encourage good health through prevention, he said.

“Until you change the incentive” to the point that it is based on the outcome, Warner said, “you’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”

“Data mining,” or finding out the base cost of medical procedures, also is needed, as are changes to allow more streamlined administrative procedures, he said.

Opening the market to allow more insurance companies to compete by selling across state lines also is needed, Warner said.

It will be “disastrous” if the bill fails, Warner said, adding that more than 80 percent of it was written in a bipartisan manner.

Warner encouraged residents to read independent analyses of the proposal before forming an opinion.

“If half the comments about the health care bill were true,” no one would support it, he said.

Federal Deficit

From the Medicare drug program to the war in Iraq, the United States in is debt, Warner said.

“One of my biggest concerns over the long term is the federal deficit,” he said.

As a result, Warner said, he has joined a bipartisan effort and agreed not to vote to raise the debt limit again until neutrality is restored.

Like U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, Warner said he will support creating a commission to study the issue and draft recommendations aimed at returning “to budget neutrality.”

After the meeting Monday, Warner declined to speculate on the outcome of mid-term elections, which are still nearly a year away.

“People are angry and frustrated at almost everyone in politics,” Warner said. “We have to find some way to get past blaming each other,” because it will take a bipartisan effort to “lower the deficit, fix the economy, bring jobs” here and address other problems, he said.