Mark Warner has been a leader in the U.S. Senate in proposing commonsense, bipartisan solutions to create greater opportunities so Virginia families can compete and win in the new economy. Senator Warner also has consistently worked in a responsible, bipartisan way to try to solve many of our nation’s biggest challenges.

• Senator Warner was one of the first federal lawmakers to consistently sound the alarm about U.S. deficits and debt. In 2010, he organized the Senate’s Gang of Six, which spent more than two years working toward a long-term, bipartisan solution to fix our nation’s balance sheet.

• As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee’s bipartisan Performance Task Force, Senator Warner has worked to identify and eliminate outdated, ineffective and redundant federal programs. In 2010, his Government Performance Review Modernization Act was signed into law by the President, requiring federal agencies to report annually on the performance of their top priority programs while clearly identifying their worst performing programs.

• Senator Warner has fought to increase economic opportunities across rural Virginia. He successfully amended the 2012 and 2013 Senate Farm Bill legislation to protect federal investments in rural broadband projects. He also introduced bipartisan legislation in 2011 and 2013 to provide a targeted federal incentive to in-source manufacturing jobs that have moved overseas.

• Senator Warner has successfully fought to support Virginia’s military families and veterans. His efforts led the Veterans Administration to expand its PTSD services to finally include female veterans returning from military service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also successfully pushed the V-A to adopt an innovative William & Mary law school program as a national model to help the V-A reduce its claims backlog.  

• In 2011, Senator Warner stepped-up for Hampton Roads families living in substandard military housing, prompting the Navy to enact major improvements in its nationwide management of family housing. In 2013, he successfully amended the Senate defense authorization bill to significantly improve protections for military whistleblowers. In 2010, Senator Warner successfully recruited Virginia’s leading I-T companies in a pro bono initiative to help the U.S. Army fix widespread management problems at Arlington National Cemetery.

• When across-the-board sequester budget cuts took effect in 2013, Senator Warner worked with the Pentagon to provide budgetary flexibility for the Navy, which helped to save tens of thousands of jobs at Virginia’s shipyards.
• Senator Warner also worked with Governor Bob McDonnell and the bipartisan congressional delegation in 2011 to minimize job losses after the Pentagon announced plans to downsize its JFCOM modeling and simulation functions in Hampton Roads.
• Senator Warner is a recognized champion of small business and start-up companies. In 2009, he successfully pushed the U.S. Treasury and the Small Business Administration to unlock small business loans, which had dried-up during the economic recession. He also is a lead sponsor of bipartisan legislation to make it easier for entrepreneurs to launch and grow their startup businesses here in America. As a cosponsor of the successful JOBS Act, Sen. Warner has been an outspoken advocate for innovative funding tools such as crowdsourcing, pushing federal regulators to act promptly in issuing flexible rules to help small businesses attract new investors.

• Senator Warner has been a leader in reforming the reckless Wall Street practices that led to the 2008 economic collapse. He helped write major bipartisan legislation signed into law in 2010 that ended taxpayer bailouts of too-big-to-fail financial firms. In 2013, Senator Warner led efforts to reform the housing mortgage industry, proposing a bipartisan restructuring of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to protect taxpayers from future bailouts while also preserving the availability of the popular 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage for Virginia’s middle-class families. Senator Warner also worked closely with faith and community leaders in Prince William County, the hardest-hit Virginia locality during the home mortgage meltdown, to successfully engage the country’s leading banks to provide additional targeted assistance for homeowners.

• Senator Warner has worked in a bipartisan way to strengthen and reform the student loan program. In 2012, he was a lead co-sponsor of bipartisan Senate legislation to provide Virginia students and their families with more transparent and relevant information to make more informed financial decisions about where to go to college. Senator Warner also led a successful effort to reallocate existing federal resources to establish a U.S. Department of Justice clearinghouse to share information and support training for school and campus safety programs.

• Senator Warner has been a leading voice in bipartisan efforts to jump-start overdue investment in our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. In 2013, he organized a bipartisan group of 10 senators to propose a targeted plan to increase private-sector investments in infrastructure to create jobs and boost U.S. competitiveness. In 2011, he was a lead cosponsor of bipartisan Senate legislation to establish an infrastructure bank.

• Senator Warner has been a champion for the federal workforce and for federal retirees. When the federal government shut down for 16 days in 2013, Senator Warner successfully cosponsored legislation to provide retroactive pay for federal workers. Since 2011, he has been a champion for Virginia’s federal retirees, continually pushing the Office of Personnel Management to speed-up the processing of backlogged retirement paperwork.

• Senator Warner has been a leader in requiring more transparency and accountability across the federal government. He fought for bipartisan legislation to provide greater transparency in tracking every dollar of federal spending, and he proposed bipartisan legislation to consolidate and dispose of unneeded federal real estate. He has proposed legislation to reduce government red tape. To provide more protection of civil liberties for Americans, Senator Warner worked as a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to successfully improve oversight of our nation’s intelligence-gathering agencies.  

• Senator Warner has been a leading voice in Congress for comprehensive immigration reform. In addition, his bipartisan Startup Act introduced in 2010 and 2012 would make it easier for foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities to remain in America to launch new companies. The Startup Act also updated visa requirements for foreign investors who help create jobs here in America.

• Senator Warner successfully amended the 2013 Farm Bill to protect federal resources for the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and other natural resource priorities. In 2011, Senator Warner successfully worked with the bipartisan congressional delegation to win National Landmark Status for Hampton, Virginia’s historic Fort Monroe.

• Senator Warner has worked in a bipartisan way to promote an “all of the above” approach to American energy independence, including consistent efforts to allow development of energy resources off of Virginia’s coast. He has been a leading voice in support of military research into potential uses of alternative fuels to power the U.S. Navy fleet. He also successfully amended the NASA budget to promote additional research into lightweight composite materials at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. Senator Warner also co-chaired the nonpartisan Alliance Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy, which released a comprehensive plan in 2013 to double U.S. energy productivity.

• Senator Warner supports civil rights for LGBT Virginians. He signed a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief supporting marriage equality, co-sponsored the 2013 Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and voted in 2010 to repeal the Defense Department’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibited military service by openly gay members of the military.

• Senator Warner voted for the 2009 Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and co-sponsored the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.

• Since 2009, Senator Warner has brought Washington decision-makers to Virginia for a regular series of conferences and summits with constituents to explore opportunities for additional investment and new jobs in electronic health records, rural broadband, renewable energy, expanded exports and trade, and other Virginia priorities targeted to economic growth and jobs.