Early this morning, Senator Warner set off for Annandale, where he met with the Korea Times and members of the Korean American Association of Washington Metropolitan Area and Korean-American Association of Virginia before setting off down the street to Shilla Bakery to meet with Korean-American business leaders. 

At the Korea Times headquarters

The Senator delivered brief remarks on his work in Washington before taking questions.

Virginia Senator Chap Peterson helped lead the discussion and wrote a great summary of the event on his blog:

Shilla Bakery Owner Connie Yun

Spent two hours this morning meeting Korean business leaders in Annandale, with U.S. Senator Mark Warner.  He was there to talk about various business issues on Capitol Hill, including the the Korean Free Trade Agreement, immigration reform and the “Gang of Six” talks on the U.S. budget deficit.

It was the right group to talk with.  First generation Koreans are the heart of the small business community in central Fairfax.  They own the restaurants, bakeries, service stations, flower shops, dry cleaners, and every other business you can imagine.  The word for a Korean-owned store (“Han-gook ga-ge”) is part of our local lexicon. 

Small businesses sit on the edge of the recession.  When unemployment rises, their customers stop visiting.  When banks tighten down, they lose their lines of credit.  When governments increase the tax or regulatory burden, they pay more in taxes (or spend more time on the paperwork).

Senator Warner emphasized the following goals for U.S. policy in Congress:

1.  Increase U.S. markets overseas, e.g. by passing the Free Trade Agremeent with South Korea (which is a natural trade partner for Virginia).

2.  Decrease regulatory burden with a “one in, one out” rule which states that every new regulation on business must be accompanied by discarding an outdated rule.

3.  Decrease the corporate tax rate but only if accompanied by phasing out of exemptions to broaden the tax base and level the playing field.

4.  Open up the immigration laws by permitting green cards to foreign students with graduate degrees in certain skills (like science or medicine), as well as foreign investors with entrepeneurial capital.

5.  Tackle the budget deficit with a long-term plan to deal with entitlement growth and revenue shortfalls.  (You have to have both — you cannot do it just one way).

Right now, the U.S. government is spending 25% of the GDP, which is the highest rate in my lifetime.  It’s also collecting taxes at the lowest rate (16%) since the 1930′s.   

The net effect is a deficit which represents nearly 10% of our annual gross product.  That is absolutely unacceptable.  Would you run your business this way?  If you did, could you stay in business?

All the owners who met with Senator Warner today are successful Americans who know how to make payroll and stay in business.  They open up their shop at 6 a.m. and close it down after dark.

When you want to solve a specific problem, you talk to the people that do it every day without the media coverage.  I was glad that our U.S. Senator understands that and took time from his day to hear their opinions.

From Annandale, Senator Warner set off for Herndon to meet with the Dulles, Loudoun and Reston Chambers of Commerce, as well as Virginia Senator Mark Herring (D-33) and Virginia Delegate Tom Rust (R-86).

The Senator presented his slideshow on the importance of deficit reduction before taking questions on regulatory paygo, health care costs, and how to bring elected officials from different parties to the table.

“Eventually we’re all going to have to have some skin in the game,” Senator Warner said. “And we’re going to have to hold hands and jump.”