In an op-ed published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this morning, Senator Warner writes about his support for a bipartisan solution to tackle meaningful budget and spending reforms.  

After a year in which Congress was focused on stabilizing our economy and addressing the rising costs of health care, Senator Warner wrote that it is time "to turn our attention to putting our nation back on a solid and responsible fiscal track."

Senator Warner has signed on to legislation that would create the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action, a commission that would make "sweeping budget and revenue recommendations to be presented to Congress, with no amendments allowed, for a simple up-or-down vote."

We need to establish policies now that will kick in after the current economic downturn has ended -- policies that phase in, over time, some of the solutions that will ensure the nation's long-term fiscal stability.

That's why I have joined a bipartisan group of senators and representatives, including Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf, in co-sponsoring legislation to create a commission on federal budget and entitlement reform. ...

As we've seen in the current health care debate, legislative deal-making too often allows parochial and political considerations to trump the national interest.

That's why I believe this Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action could serve as the basis for a new process to tackle this fiscal challenge.

Click here to read Senator Warner's entire op-ed.

UPDATE
Statement on Senate vote
On January 26, Senator Warner released the following statement, after the Senate vote 53-47 to reject the bipartisan budget reform panel: 

“I am disappointed that the Senate today rejected a responsible proposal that would have established a bipartisan task force to recommend specific steps to address the federal budget deficit. No one party can or will make the hard choices on its own to get federal spending and deficits under control, and this bipartisan proposal recognized that both parties must be invested in the outcome and committed to its success.”