Senator Warner traveled to Southside Virginia today to meet with over 50 community and business leaders from Martinsville and Henry County. The community has been one of the hardest hit during the economic downturn -- and this former self-described "Sweatshirt Capital of the World" has been struggling for years with the economic challenges caused by the decline in U.S.-based textile manufacturing.

As part of the visit, Senator Warner passed through downtown and visited with students at the Governor's School of Mathematics. The students told Senator Warner that they regularly wake up as early as 5:30 a.m. to attend the Governor's School program for the first half of the day before going back to their normal high schools in order to take advantage of the small class sizes and advanced teaching opportunities provided by the Governor's School.

Senator Warner also dropped by a meeting of the Uptown Partners, an economic development working group that brings together organizations and individuals determined to revitalize Martinsville and Henry County.

He shared with them some lessons he learned while serving as Governor of Virginia, when he was the Commonwealth's "Chief Economic Development Officer," and discussed federal programs and resources that are available for communities like Martinsville to grow.

He also discussed two initiatives that he is working on in Congress: his on-going efforts to boost small business lending, and a new effort that will help states and local governments attract and create new jobs.

The meeting with community leaders was held at the Virginia Museum of Natural History, which he helped bring to the region when he served as Governor. Senator Warner provided the business and community leaders an update from Washington, discussed his upcoming initiatives on job-creation, and detailed how the status quo in health care ultimately could bankrupt Virginia families, businesses, and the state and federal governments.

Senator Warner told the community leaders that the noisy health care reform debate has included a lot of hyperbole, hypocrisy, misinformation and disinformation. "There's a lot to not be happy with," he said. "But if this bill was half as bad as some people are saying, I sure as heck would not have voted for it."

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On January 12, the Martinsville Bulletin reported on Senator Warner's visit to the area to discuss two initiatives aimed at helping communities and businesses create jobs.