Senator Warner, a leader in bipartisan Senate efforts to craft a comprehensive plan to reduce budget deficits and the national debt, added a clock to the homepage of his Senate website today that allows constituents to view the escalating national debt in real time.

Senator Warner, the fifth U.S. Senator and the only Senate Democrat to take this action, said the debt clock serves as a reminder of the need to tackle our deficits and debt in a fiscally responsible way. “The United States is borrowing at least forty cents of every dollar that we spend. Everyone knows that simply is not sustainable,” Senator Warner said. “The debt clock on my homepage serves as a reminder that we do not have time to waste in partisan gamesmanship. We have to work together in a responsible and bipartisan way to cut spending, simplify the tax code and strengthen and reform our entitlement programs.”

For the past year, Senator Warner has partnered with Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) in a bipartisan effort to address deficit and debt issues. Last December, their efforts expanded to include U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) in a bipartisan initiative that came to be known as “The Gang of Six.” While Sen. Coburn recently announced he was taking a break from the effort, the remaining five Senators continue to work on the final details of a bipartisan plan that will reduce the national debt by at least $4 trillion over the next ten years.

In a column in Friday’s Washington Post, the bipartisan co-chairs of the National Fiscal Commission, former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, described the Warner-Chambliss effort as the most significant, serious and truly bipartisan effort underway in Washington today to tame the deficit and debt.

“Every day that we fail to act, our national debt – the running tally of what the United States government owes -- increases by an average $5 billion. It is clear we cannot continue postponing the inevitable hard choices,” Senator Warner said. “I remain hopeful that our bipartisan discussions will result in a responsible way forward to get our balance sheet in order and reposition our nation to better compete in this global economy.”