Priorities

Senator Warner said this week that any economic stimulus package should focus on creating jobs and not commit to long-term spending.  

He took part in an interview with Senator John Barrasso on Bloomberg Television's "Money & Politics."  During the interview, the Senator said that while action is needed quickly to stimulate the economy before it gets worse, the plan that is currently making its way through Congress can be strengthened.  

“I do think there are ways that the plan can be strengthened. I’m particularly interested in focusing on job creation, which is absolutely critical."

On State Aid: 

With is experience as a governor who worked to maintain Virignia's Triple-A bond rating during tough economic times, the Senator also said that the plan should include assistance to states, to help them cover the costs of programs like unemployment, Medicaid, and food stamps.

"It needs to be targeted, it needs to be short-term, and I do believe we ought to look long and hard before we make any of these long-term commitments in the out-years."

On Housing:

An important area of concern is the housing crisis:

"We’ve got an oversupply in the housing market at this point.  Some of that is just going to have to be absorbed, so I do hope if we were to look at stimulating that housing market, we wouldn’t just look at first-time buyers, we’d also look at people who are repurchasing another home, because we’ve got make sure, on the first-time buyers, we perhaps tighten up some of these rules.  One of the reasons we’re in the spot we’re in is there were folks who got into homes that were way above their heads."

You can read the transcript of the interview here, or you can read an article of the interview from the Martinsville Bulletin here.