WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) led an effort on the Senate floor today calling on Republican colleagues to allow budget negotiations to begin with the U.S. House of Representatives.  Senator Warner, a member of the Budget Committee and a leader since 2010 in bipartisan efforts to reach a compromise on meaningful deficit and debt reduction, reminded his colleagues that the Senate passed its budget resolution 46 days ago. Since then, however, Republican senators repeatedly have blocked efforts to name budget conferees to sit down and work to resolve the differences between the Senate and House budget resolutions.

Following his remarks, Sen. Warner asked for unanimous consent to move the Senate’s budget legislation to conference with the House. His request was blocked by an objection from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).  

Senator Warner said McConnell’s objection was “not a surprise -- but it was extremely disappointing.”

Here is a transcript of Sen. Warner’s floor speech:

“Mr. President, I rise to make a few remarks -- and to make a motion.

Mr. President, everyone in this body knows that the issue I believe is most holding back our economic recovery and most holding back our ability to sort through so many issues our nation faces, is the issue of our debt and deficit.

Nearly $17 trillion in debt – a debt that goes up over $4 billion every night when we go to sleep. This problem is structural in nature; time alone will not solve this issue.

For the last four years, my time in the Senate, there’s been no issue on which I’ve spent more time, spent more effort trying to reach out. I understand that many of my colleagues actually avoid me in the hallways now because they fear they’re going to get a ‘Mark Warner harangue’ on the debt and deficit.

I also know that the only way we’re going to get this issue resolved is if both sides are willing to meet each other in the middle. This is a problem that cannot be solved by continuing to cut back on discretionary spending. It will require, yes, more revenues,  and it will require entitlement reform. Those are issues where unfortunately, in many ways, our parties have not found agreement.

We all have agreed as well, at least, that while we don’t have to solve this problem overnight, we do need at least $4 trillion in debt reduction over the next ten years.

The good thing is, while we have lurched from budget crisis to budget crisis, we have gotten over half the way there on our goal. The good news as well is this year, both the Senate and the House adopted budget resolutions.

As I said on the floor in March, I believe the Senate budget was a solid first chapter toward producing a balanced fiscal plan for our country.

My vote for the Senate budget – it was not a budget that I would agree with every component part – but was a vote for the process… for regular order. For regular order that so many of my distinguished colleagues who’ve served here for much longer say was the glue that holds this institution together.

It’s now been 46 days since the Senate passed its budget. And unfortunately there are certain colleagues on the other side of the aisle who seem to block our ability to go to conference.

In a few minutes I will ask my colleagues agree to authorize the chair to name a conference to a Budget Conference. Unfortunately, I expect that request to be objected to.

I find that extremely disappointing.

I can only speak at this point for folks from Virginia, but no single other issue is as overriding. I hear it as I travel across Virginia, and I would imagine most of my colleagues as they travel across their states – is that at the end of the day Americans, Virginians want us to work together and get this issue solved.

We’ve seen over the last two and a half years, as we’ve lurched from manufactured budget crisis to budget crisis, the negative effects this has had on the stock market, on job creation, and our overall economic recovery.

Well, we have a chance to put this behind us. We need to find the kind of common ground between the House budget proposal and the Senate budget proposal that so many have called upon us to work on.

Again, I’m going to make this motion in a moment, I just want to make one last point. I appreciate some of the calls that we have had from our colleagues on the Republican side over the last couple of years for the Senate to pass a budget. I believe we needed to pass that budget.

Well, 46 days ago after 100 amendments that took until 5 o’clock in the morning, we passed such a document.

I think it is time now that we allow the Senate to announce its conferees to meet with the House to get a budget resolved for the United States of America, so we’ve got a framework to make sure that we get this issue of debt and deficit behind us, that we allow the economy to recover in the way that it needs.” 

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