Senator Mark Warner will talk about student debt with students and community members at Sweet Briar College from 9 to 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4, in the Josey Dining Room at Protho Hall on the Sweet Briar campus. The event will be co-hosted by the Amherst County Democratic Committee and the College’s Young Democrats Club. For more information, contact committee chair Ned Kable at (434) 989-2846.
We hope you will be able to join us.
Virginia’s education system is one of the best in the country. As Governor and now Senator, Mark Warner has been at the national forefront in efforts to maintain and improve educational and career opportunities for Virginians.
Early Childhood
As Governor, Mark Warner created grant programs to help localities provide greater access to qualified early childhood education programs, and strengthened child care center standards.
K-12
Under then-Gov. Warner’s leadership, Virginia’s education system made enormous gains through innovative reform initiatives that enlisted community support to help students, parents, teachers and schools that were academically challenged. Gov. Warner launched initiatives to mentor young teachers, promote more stable staffing in challenged rural and inner city schools, and equipped talented school administrators with special training and tools to begin turning- around failing schools. Gov. Warner’s 2004 successful bipartisan budget and tax reforms provided the largest increase in K-12 educational support in Virginia’s history.
College Affordability
As Governor and as a member of the Senate, Mark has worked to reinvigorate the senior year of high school by promoting access to college-level courses and workforce training programs. Sen. Warner has introduced bipartisan legislation, The Know Before You Go Act, to help students and their families more fully access and compare the costs of a college education. In 2014, Sen. Warner introduced bipartisan legislation to make it easier for students to refinance college loans and switch to income-based repayment options.
Workforce Training
In a rapidly changing economy, Virginia needs to ensure that people have the job skills necessary to compete and succeed. Since a four-year college education is not the appropriate choice for every student, Mark has worked as Governor and as a U.S. Senator to expand access to qualified worker training and certification programs. He turned abandoned warehouses into job development centers in some of the Commonwealth’s most financially distressed communities, and his commitment to workforce training earned him a spot in the Virginia Career and Technical Education Hall of Fame.
A Fair Shot for Everyone
Sen. Warner is a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, including DREAM Act support for responsible young people brought to this country through no fault of their own. He knows that an education is vital to giving high achieving, talented young adults a fair shot at the American dream.
Mark Warner was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2008 after having served as Governor of Virginia, where he returned the Commonwealth to economic prosperity by bringing thousands of new jobs to Virginia while working across the political aisle to turn budget deficits into surpluses.
No stranger to hard work, Mark put himself through George Washington University through a combination of jobs and student loans to become the first in his family to graduate from college. He went on to Harvard Law School where he earned his J.D. in 1980. Mark decided to pursue a career in business rather than law. He started a small
business, but like many entrepreneurs he failed in his first attempt. Six months later, he started a second business and failed again.
Undeterred, he successfully invested in the earliest days of the cell phone industry and eventually co-founded the company that became Nextel. His success allowed him to make early investments in hundreds of start-up technology companies that continue to create jobs and contribute to Virginia’s economy. He has channeled his strong business
experience into his public service by focusing on policies that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship and promote fiscal responsibility.
After working in business and politics, Mark’s first attempt at elected office was a 1996 challenge to Republican U.S. Sen. John Warner. As Mark tells the story, “I got the silver medal,” but the two Warners developed a mutual respect that resulted in a strong personal and political partnership that exists to this day.
ACV Blog
In 2001, Mark was elected Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and he worked in a bipartisan way with a Republican-led General Assembly to cut spending and apply business principles to state government. Governor Warner worked with Republicans to turn a $6 billion budget shortfall into a $1 billion surplus.
Governor Warner applied his extensive business experience to focus on creating nearly 130,000 new private-sector jobs during his four-year term, and he launched innovative programs to improve public schools and strengthen Virginia’s world-class colleges and universities. When he left office in 2006, Virginia was consistently recognized as the nation’s Best Managed State, the Best State for Business and the Best State for Educational Opportunities.
When Sen. John Warner announced his retirement in 2007, former Governor Warner launched his candidacy and was overwhelmingly elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2008.
Since day one, Mark Warner has worked across the aisle and built consensus in Congress to strengthen America’s struggling economy and solve problems for Virginia families.
ACV Blog
He teamed up with Republican Sen. Bob Corker in 2010 to end taxpayer bailouts of “too big to fail” Wall Street banks. He partnered with Sen. Corker again in 2013 and produced a bipartisan plan to reform the housing finance system to protect taxpayers and preserve the availability of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for Virginia’s middle class families. In 2010, Warner co-founded the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Six,” which worked for two years to design a responsible plan to reduce our country’s deficits and debt.
ACVDN
Building on his government reforms efforts as Virginia’s Governor, Sen. Warner has been a leader in Congress in bipartisan efforts to eliminate red tape, promote accountability and impose greater transparency in federal spending.
Sen. Warner continues to always put Virginia first. He helped secure $20 million in federal grants to built-out high-speed broadband in rural Southwest and Southside Virginia, and he has proposed bipartisan legislation to bring manufacturing jobs back to rural America. His business background has led him to advocate for innovative new
funding tools to help small businesses attract investors. He also has been a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform that secures America’s borders making it easier for foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities to remain in America to launch new companies.
ACV Blog
Putting Virginia first means ensuring every constituent is treated fairly under the law. As Governor, Mark Warner championed a diverse and inclusive workforce, and he was the first Virginia governor to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. In the U.S. Senate, Warner has supported marriage equality, voted to end the
military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies, and co-sponsored the 2013 Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Understanding that we must serve those who have served our country, Sen. Warner has consistently fought for Virginia’s military men and women, their families and Virginia’s 800,000 military veterans. He successfully pushed the Veterans Administration to expand its PTSD services to include female veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He has championed an innovative pro-bono effort at the William & Mary Law School that has been designated a national model in helping veterans navigate the V-A claims system. Mark Warner went to bat for Navy families living in substandard housing in Hampton Roads. And when it was revealed that Arlington National Cemetery
suffered from severe organizational and management problems, he recruited Virginia’s leading I-T companies in a pro bono initiative to help the Army fix the problems.
ACVDN
Sen. Warner has worked in a bipartisan way to promote an “all of the above” approach to American energy independence, including consistent efforts to allow development of
energy resources off of Virginia’s coast while protecting the Commonwealth’s environment. He has worked to help Virginia manufacturers and coal producers comply with new EPA regulations by imposing reasonable provisions to ease the cost of implementation.
Senator Warner, his wife Lisa Collis, and their three daughters live in Alexandria, Virginia.
ACV Blog
Mark Warner’s guiding philosophy on governing is simple: Virginia first. Throughout his public career, he has repeatedly reached across the aisle to solve problems for the people of the Common-wealth. Sen. Warner’s record of taking on these types of tough challenges led Republican former Sen. John Warner to break with tradition in 2014 and endorse Democrat Mark Warner’s bid for re-election. “There are times you must, I think, recognize that certain individuals are superior in their talents and in what they have done and can potentially do for your state,” John Warner said.
Bipartisanship Works
The power of bipartisanship is one of the lasting lessons Sen. Warner learned while Governor of Virginia. Republicans held overwhelming majorities in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate, yet he was able to find a compromise solution in 2004 to reform Virginia’s budget and tax systems to put Virginia on a sound financial
footing. It took both sides working together to make it happen, and the results speak for themselves: Virginia saved its Triple-A bond rating, 130,000 new private sector jobs were established in Virginia, a $6 billion budget shortfall was turned into a $1 billion surplus, and the Commonwealth earned accolades as the country’s Best Managed State, the Best State for Business, and the Best State for Educational Opportunities.
Working with U.S. Senate Republicans
The best policy solutions come from people looking to serve their constituents first. That has been Sen. Warner’s philosophy throughout his career in public service, and he has brought this get-it-done attitude to Washington. He has worked with Republicans to promote innovation and start-up businesses, and to rebuild our nation’s outdated
infrastructure. He has worked with a Republican partner to rewrite the rules of the road for Wall Street banks and the mortgage finance industry. On every major piece of legislation Mark has introduced, he has had a Republican co-sponsor. That’s because he knows that when you find common ground, you can get things done.
ACV Blog
Gang of Six
In 2010, Mark partnered with Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia to form the Senate’s “Gang of Six,” which worked for two years to transform the bipartisan recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission into legislative language. Members of both political parties, business leaders, economists, and leading national commentators have all praised Sen. Warner’s efforts to reduce the nation’s deficits and debt. The Gang of Six eventually produced a bipartisan framework to reign-in government spending, reform taxes and strengthen entitlement programs. Even though the Gang of Six plan never got a vote in Congress, the framework was endorsed by 46 senators and more than 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
ACV Blog
Mark Warner knows that America cannot continue to lead the world without investing in our economy and our workforce. As Governor, he worked across party lines to make tough decisions that restored Virginia's fiscal integrity and balanced Virginia's budget, earning Virginia the designation of Best State for Business and Best Managed
State. In the Senate, Mark has drawn upon his experience in business to craft policies that invest in U.S. manufacturing and strengthen our infrastructure, and which promote the growth of small businesses and start-up companies to drive job growth and a stronger economy.
Job Creation
As Governor, Mark helped create nearly 130,000 private sector jobs through $13 billion in new economic development investments.
Small Business Growth
As Senator, Mark has used his experience in business and his willingness to work across the aisle to push for new crowd funding tools in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. Signed into law in 2012, the JOBS Act also eases regulations and promotes innovation and new job growth.
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Influenced by his own experience as an entrepreneur, Sen. Warner worked with Republicans and Democrats to introduce legislation that encourage the growth of startup companies through targeted tax incentives and regulatory flexibility. He has introduced the Startup Act and championed an Innovation Tax Credit to eliminate unnecessary costs for startups through pro-growth policies that invest in innovation and entrepreneurship.
ACVDN
Bringing Back American Jobs
Working with Republican Rep. Frank Wolf, Sen. Warner introduced the America Recruits Act to bring jobs back from overseas and increase new manufacturing jobs here in America. Sen. Warner continues to lead bipartisan efforts to expand U.S. export opportunities while strengthening worker training and American competitiveness.
Investments in Infrastructure
Sen. Warner is committed to upgrading our nation’s infrastructure through the 2013 Building and Upgrading Infrastructure for Long-Term Development (BUILD) Act. This bipartisan initiative will create thousands of jobs through innovative financing tools to help states and localities launch or rebuild bridges, rails and roads.
In the U.S. Senate, Mark has built on his work as Governor to help create and attract thousands of jobs to Virginia.
Innovative Industries
Mark has fought to put Hampton Roads at the forefront of new and growing industries. By strengthening existing relationships with the military and creating partnerships with Virginia’s universities, he has helped make the area the prime location for testing and advancing Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which will help Virginia be on the cutting edge of this growing industry and create hundreds of jobs.
Reducing Red Tape
Mark worked with other members of the Virginia delegation to expedite the approval of the Commonwealth Crossing Business Center in Henry County. Working across the aisle with state and local officials to find a solution, the project is now scheduled to continue and stands to create real jobs in the area. The legislation he introduced to fix this bureaucratic quirk ensure that new infrastructure can be built across the Southside to create future jobs in places like Martinsville, Danville and Pittsylvania County.
FBI Relocation
Mark is leading a Virginia coalition of Democrats and Republicans to bring the new FBI headquarters to Northern Virginia. Currently, the FBI has facilities at Quantico and Prince William County. With the future home of the Central Records Complex to be at Winchester and the CIA and the National Counterterrorism Center already in Northern Virginia, this will make the our national security apparatus even more efficient and bring 10,000 jobs to the area.
New Training Facilities
Mark collaborate with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, and U.S. Representatives Randy Forbes and Robert Hurt to bring the new Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC) to Fort Pickett in Nottoway County. This will not only generate new economic activity for the area but also help keep the State Department efficient. This brings yet another economic driver to the people of Southside Virginia.
Moving Jobs to Virginia
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, or ‘Intelsat’, the operator of the world’s largest fleet of commercial satellites, decided to move it’s operations from Washington, D.C., Mark visited the company’s headquarters. His efforts, in tandem with state officials, helped solidify Virginia as the right place for Intelsat to
relocate. Because of the move, Fairfax gained 430 well-paid employees.
ACVDN
As the father of three daughters, Mark Warner cares deeply about women’s rights and has been a fierce advocate of policies that protect women in the military, end violence against women and provide equality in the workplace.
Military Women & Veterans
After directing the Veterans Affairs inspector general to examine the gender differences in available treatment options for post-traumatic stress disorder, Sen. Warner worked with the V-A to close a loophole to ensure equal mental health benefits for military women and female veterans. In 2013, Sen. Warner also successfully updated the Military Whistleblower Act, an important step forward in stopping the epidemic of violence against women who serve in the U.S. military.
Stopping Domestic Abuse
As Governor, Sen. Warner helped secure $7.4 million in funding for Virginia programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic abuse. Senator Warner was also a key cosponsor in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which passed with strong bipartisan support.
Equal Pay For Equal Work
Sen. Warner cosponsored the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and he is a cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Women’s Health
Sen. Warner believes that women have the right to make their own health and reproductive decisions. He understands it is vital to increase women’s access to health care, education and legal contraception, and opposes efforts to restrict or criminalize reproductive health decisions.
No stranger to hard work, Mark put himself through George Washington University through a combination of jobs and student loans to become the first in his family to graduate from college. He went on to Harvard Law School where he earned his J.D. in 1980. Mark decided to pursue a career in business rather than law. He started a small
business, but like many entrepreneurs he failed in his first attempt. Six months later, he started a second business and failed again.
Undeterred, he successfully invested in the earliest days of the cell phone industry and eventually co-founded the company that became Nextel. His success allowed him to make early investments in hundreds of start-up technology companies that continue to create jobs and contribute to Virginia’s economy. He has channeled his strong business
experience into his public service by focusing on policies that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship and promote fiscal responsibility.
After working in business and politics, Mark’s first attempt at elected office was a 1996 challenge to Republican U.S. Sen. John Warner. As Mark tells the story, “I got the silver medal,” but the two Warners developed a mutual respect that resulted in a strong personal and political partnership that exists to this day.
In 2001, Mark was elected Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and he worked in a bipartisan way with a Republican-led General Assembly to cut spending and apply business principles to state government. Governor Warner worked with Republicans to turn a $6 billion budget shortfall into a $1 billion surplus.
Governor Warner applied his extensive business experience to focus on creating nearly 130,000 new private-sector jobs during his four-year term, and he launched innovative programs to improve public schools and strengthen Virginia’s world-class colleges and universities. When he left office in 2006, Virginia was consistently recognized as the nation’s Best Managed State, the Best State for Business and the Best State for Educational Opportunities.
When Sen. John Warner announced his retirement in 2007, former Governor Warner launched his candidacy and was overwhelmingly elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2008.
Since day one, Mark Warner has worked across the aisle and built consensus in Congress to strengthen America’s struggling economy and solve problems for Virginia families.
He teamed up with Republican Sen. Bob Corker in 2010 to end taxpayer bailouts of “too big to fail” Wall Street banks. He partnered with Sen. Corker again in 2013 and produced a bipartisan plan to reform the housing finance system to protect taxpayers and preserve the availability of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for Virginia’s middle class families. In 2010, Warner co-founded the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Six,” which worked for two years to design a responsible plan to reduce our country’s deficits and debt.
Building on his government reforms efforts as Virginia’s Governor, Sen. Warner has been a leader in Congress in bipartisan efforts to eliminate red tape, promote accountability and impose greater transparency in federal spending.
Sen. Warner continues to always put Virginia first. He helped secure $20 million in federal grants to built-out high-speed broadband in rural Southwest and Southside Virginia, and he has proposed bipartisan legislation to bring manufacturing jobs back to rural America. His business background has led him to advocate for innovative new
funding tools to help small businesses attract investors. He also has been a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform that secures America’s borders making it easier for foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities to remain in America to launch new companies.
Putting Virginia first means ensuring every constituent is treated fairly under the law. As Governor, Mark Warner championed a diverse and inclusive workforce, and he was the first Virginia governor to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. In the U.S. Senate, Warner has supported marriage equality, voted to end the
military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies, and co-sponsored the 2013 Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Understanding that we must serve those who have served our country, Sen. Warner has consistently fought for Virginia’s military men and women, their families and Virginia’s 800,000 military veterans. He successfully pushed the Veterans Administration to expand its PTSD services to include female veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He has championed an innovative pro-bono effort at the William & Mary Law School that has been designated a national model in helping veterans navigate the V-A claims system. Mark Warner went to bat for Navy families living in substandard housing in Hampton Roads. And when it was revealed that Arlington National Cemetery
suffered from severe organizational and management problems, he recruited Virginia’s leading I-T companies in a pro bono initiative to help the Army fix the problems.
Sen. Warner has worked in a bipartisan way to promote an “all of the above” approach to American energy independence, including consistent efforts to allow development of
energy resources off of Virginia’s coast while protecting the Commonwealth’s environment. He has worked to help Virginia manufacturers and coal producers comply with new EPA regulations by imposing reasonable provisions to ease the cost of implementation.
Senator Warner, his wife Lisa Collis, and their three daughters live in Alexandria, Virginia.
Mark Warner’s guiding philosophy on governing is simple: Virginia first. Throughout his public career, he has repeatedly reached across the aisle to solve problems for the people of the Common-wealth. Sen. Warner’s record of taking on these types of tough challenges led Republican former Sen. John Warner to break with tradition in 2014 and endorse Democrat Mark Warner’s bid for re-election. “There are times you must, I think, recognize that certain individuals are superior in their talents and in what they have done and can potentially do for your state,” John Warner said.
Bipartisanship Works
The power of bipartisanship is one of the lasting lessons Sen. Warner learned while Governor of Virginia. Republicans held overwhelming majorities in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate, yet he was able to find a compromise solution in 2004 to reform Virginia’s budget and tax systems to put Virginia on a sound financial
footing. It took both sides working together to make it happen, and the results speak for themselves: Virginia saved its Triple-A bond rating, 130,000 new private sector jobs were established in Virginia, a $6 billion budget shortfall was turned into a $1 billion surplus, and the Commonwealth earned accolades as the country’s Best Managed State, the Best State for Business, and the Best State for Educational Opportunities.
Working with U.S. Senate Republicans
The best policy solutions come from people looking to serve their constituents first. That has been Sen. Warner’s philosophy throughout his career in public service, and he has brought this get-it-done attitude to Washington. He has worked with Republicans to promote innovation and start-up businesses, and to rebuild our nation’s outdated
infrastructure. He has worked with a Republican partner to rewrite the rules of the road for Wall Street banks and the mortgage finance industry. On every major piece of legislation Mark has introduced, he has had a Republican co-sponsor. That’s because he knows that when you find common ground, you can get things done.
Gang of Six
In 2010, Mark partnered with Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia to form the Senate’s “Gang of Six,” which worked for two years to transform the bipartisan recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission into legislative language. Members of both political parties, business leaders, economists, and leading national commentators have all praised Sen. Warner’s efforts to reduce the nation’s deficits and debt. The Gang of Six eventually produced a bipartisan framework to reign-in government spending, reform taxes and strengthen entitlement programs. Even though the Gang of Six plan never got a vote in Congress, the framework was endorsed by 46 senators and more than 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mark Warner knows that America cannot continue to lead the world without investing in our economy and our workforce. As Governor, he worked across party lines to make tough decisions that restored Virginia's fiscal integrity and balanced Virginia's budget, earning Virginia the designation of Best State for Business and Best Managed
State. In the Senate, Mark has drawn upon his experience in business to craft policies that invest in U.S. manufacturing and strengthen our infrastructure, and which promote the growth of small businesses and start-up companies to drive job growth and a stronger economy.
Job Creation
As Governor, Mark helped create nearly 130,000 private sector jobs through $13 billion in new economic development investments.
Small Business Growth
As Senator, Mark has used his experience in business and his willingness to work across the aisle to push for new crowd funding tools in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. Signed into law in 2012, the JOBS Act also eases regulations and promotes innovation and new job growth.
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Influenced by his own experience as an entrepreneur, Sen. Warner worked with Republicans and Democrats to introduce legislation that encourage the growth of startup companies through targeted tax incentives and regulatory flexibility. He has introduced the Startup Act and championed an Innovation Tax Credit to eliminate unnecessary costs for startups through pro-growth policies that invest in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Bringing Back American Jobs
Working with Republican Rep. Frank Wolf, Sen. Warner introduced the America Recruits Act to bring jobs back from overseas and increase new manufacturing jobs here in America. Sen. Warner continues to lead bipartisan efforts to expand U.S. export opportunities while strengthening worker training and American competitiveness.
Investments in Infrastructure
Sen. Warner is committed to upgrading our nation’s infrastructure through the 2013 Building and Upgrading Infrastructure for Long-Term Development (BUILD) Act. This bipartisan initiative will create thousands of jobs through innovative financing tools to help states and localities launch or rebuild bridges, rails and roads.
In the U.S. Senate, Mark has built on his work as Governor to help create and attract thousands of jobs to Virginia.
Innovative Industries
Mark has fought to put Hampton Roads at the forefront of new and growing industries. By strengthening existing relationships with the military and creating partnerships with Virginia’s universities, he has helped make the area the prime location for testing and advancing Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which will help Virginia be on the cutting edge of this growing industry and create hundreds of jobs.
Reducing Red Tape
Mark worked with other members of the Virginia delegation to expedite the approval of the Commonwealth Crossing Business Center in Henry County. Working across the aisle with state and local officials to find a solution, the project is now scheduled to continue and stands to create real jobs in the area. The legislation he introduced to fix this bureaucratic quirk ensure that new infrastructure can be built across the Southside to create future jobs in places like Martinsville, Danville and Pittsylvania County.
FBI Relocation
Mark is leading a Virginia coalition of Democrats and Republicans to bring the new FBI headquarters to Northern Virginia. Currently, the FBI has facilities at Quantico and Prince William County. With the future home of the Central Records Complex to be at Winchester and the CIA and the National Counterterrorism Center already in Northern Virginia, this will make the our national security apparatus even more efficient and bring 10,000 jobs to the area.
New Training Facilities
Mark collaborate with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, and U.S. Representatives Randy Forbes and Robert Hurt to bring the new Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC) to Fort Pickett in Nottoway County. This will not only generate new economic activity for the area but also help keep the State Department efficient. This brings yet another economic driver to the people of Southside Virginia.
Moving Jobs to Virginia
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, or ‘Intelsat’, the operator of the world’s largest fleet of commercial satellites, decided to move it’s operations from Washington, D.C., Mark visited the company’s headquarters. His efforts, in tandem with state officials, helped solidify Virginia as the right place for Intelsat to
relocate. Because of the move, Fairfax gained 430 well-paid employees.
As the father of three daughters, Mark Warner cares deeply about women’s rights and has been a fierce advocate of policies that protect women in the military, end violence against women and provide equality in the workplace.
Military Women & Veterans
After directing the Veterans Affairs inspector general to examine the gender differences in available treatment options for post-traumatic stress disorder, Sen. Warner worked with the V-A to close a loophole to ensure equal mental health benefits for military women and female veterans. In 2013, Sen. Warner also successfully updated the Military Whistleblower Act, an important step forward in stopping the epidemic of violence against women who serve in the U.S. military.
Stopping Domestic Abuse
As Governor, Sen. Warner helped secure $7.4 million in funding for Virginia programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic abuse. Senator Warner was also a key cosponsor in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which passed with strong bipartisan support.
Equal Pay For Equal Work
Sen. Warner cosponsored the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and he is a cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Women’s Health
Sen. Warner believes that women have the right to make their own health and reproductive decisions. He understands it is vital to increase women’s access to health care, education and legal contraception, and opposes efforts to restrict or criminalize reproductive health decisions.
Sen. Warner believes that we cannot turn our backs on our seniors, and must work to strengthen and expand resources to better meet the needs of Virginia’s aging citizens.
Medicare and Social Security
Sen. Warner believes Medicare and Social Security are among the most effective government programs ever created. He recognizes that we must follow through with our promises to our seniors, and work together to strengthen these programs for today’s seniors and reform them so they will still exist for the next generation.
Community Resources for Elderly
Mark co-founded the Virginia Health Care Foundation, which continues to support a million medically unserved and underserved Virginians through grants to community health centers and access to low-cost prescription drugs. When his own family had difficulty accessing community resources for his mom as she waged her brave battle against Alzheimer’s disease, Mark launched the SeniorNavigator.com website to better link seniors, their families and other caregivers with local community resources.
Affordable Prescription Drugs
With passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act supported by Sen. Warner, Medicare beneficiaries in Virginia who hit the Part D prescription drug “donut hole” have saved more than $197 million on Medicare-approved prescription drugs. This has helped ensure that seniors on a fixed income no longer had to choose between buying groceries or purchasing their prescriptions.
Research for Alzheimer’s Disease
Because of his family’s personal experiences with the horrors of Alzheimer’s disease, Sen. Warner has served as co-chairman of the Bipartisan Congressional Alzheimer’s Task Force. He has been nationally recognized for his personal philanthropic support for research, treatment and an eventual cure for Alzheimer’s disease.
Senator Mark Warner believes that America is strongest when we protect the rights of everyone. He moved Virginia forward by strengthened laws and regulations to protect the rights of the LGBT community as Governor and he has built on that record in the Senate.
Workplace Discrimination
Mark Warner was the first Governor of Virginia to ban sexual orientation discrimination for state employees. He understands that in order to meet our potential, we must draw upon the talents and experiences of everyone. He also led the effort to end the discriminatory “family rule” that prevented same-sex couples from receiving home buying assistance from the state government.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
As Senator, Warner voted to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and was a strong supporter of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He knows that prohibiting discrimination is both the right thing to do and vital to economic competitiveness. For Virginia to continue to be a leader in business and innovation, we must do everything we can to ensure the rights of all Virginians are protected.
Marriage Equality
Sen. Warner is also a vocal proponent of marriage equality. As Governor, Warner opposed a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Virginia. As Senator, he supported the effort at the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. Warner supports the freedom to marry for all Americans, and recommended the nomination of the federal judge who eventually struck down Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban. He believes marriage equality is the right thing to do, and that it fulfills the promise of extending equality and opportunity to everyone.
As Governor and now Senator, Mark Warner believes the young people in Virginia’s rural communities should not be forced to leave home in order to receive a world-class education or find a job. Informed by his background in business and technology, he has led efforts to invest in workforce development, increase access to cutting-edge
technology, and promote cultural heritage in Virginia’s rural regions. Both as Governor and Senator, the funding, programs and policies Mark has implemented have helped create jobs and reinvigorate economies across Virginia.
Developing New Economies
As Governor, Mark Warner made significant investments in new programs and facilities to train rural Virginians in new skillsets and provide targeted job assistance during times of economic hardship. The development centers and worker-assistance storefronts created while he was Governor have helped thousands of people get back on their feet to support their families. He supported the launch of the New College in Martinsville and Henry County, and helped fund Danville’s Institute of Applied Research. He worked with CGI and Northrup Grumman to bring 800 world-class technology jobs to Russell County, allowing Southwest Virginia’s best and brightest to compete in the global I-T industry without leaving home. In the Senate, Mark introduced the America Recruits Act, a bipartisan measure that provides targeted incentives for companies to locate operations in rural regions.
Access to Technology
As Governor, Mark Warner worked with federal, state, local and private-sector partners to leverage Virginia’s tobacco settlement dollars to invest in building-out 800 miles of fiber-optic broadband in Southwest and Southside. At the time, it was America’s largest rural broadband project, and it helped attract 2,200 jobs and $300 million of investment in Virginia. As a U.S. Senator, he has continued to advocate for broadband expansion by successfully amending the 2012 and 2013 Senate Farm Bill legislation to protect federal investments in rural broadband projects. Thanks to his efforts, tens of thousands of homes and businesses in rural Virginia have access to the educational and economic development opportunities provided through access to high-speed Internet service.
Improved Educational Opportunities
Gov. Warner created the “Race to the GED,” an innovative partnership with NASCAR aimed at helping adult Virginians earn their GED high school equivalency credentials in 90 days or less. Simultaneously, he strengthened career and technical education programs to dramatically increase the availability of workforce certification programs for young people and adults transitioning through the changing economy.
Promoting Cultural History
As Governor and Senator, Mark Warner has helped launch and promote targeted investments in regional tourism initiaves that promote Virginia’s unique cultural heritage.
Gov. Warner initiated the Rails-To-Trails program in Virginia, which converts unused railroad trails into scenic biking and hiking trails. Mark also worked with local artisans to develop unique regional marketing approaches such as The Crooked Road, Round the Mountain, and the Appalachian Spring initiative to leverage. These measures helped to highlight Virginia’s unique musical and cultural heritage and natural resource assets.
Drawing on his business experience, Sen. Warner has been a national leader on reining in budgets to make government more fiscally responsible. Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike have praised his bipartisan efforts to address government inefficiency, both as Virginia Governor and now as U.S. Senator. While our nation continues to face difficult budgetary choices, Sen. Warner has steadily worked across party lines to create solutions that protect taxpayers, promote accountability and address our nation’s deficits and debt.
Balancing Virginia’s Budget
When Virginia was at risk of losing its stellar credit rating, Governor Warner worked with the Republican controlled General Assembly in 2004 to enact a comprehensive budget and tax reform plan, ultimately stabilizing the Commonwealth’s balance sheet.
Fixing Our Nation’s Debt
Through his leadership in the bipartisan Gang of Six, Sen. Warner worked to find commonsense solutions to fix our nation’s deficit, strengthen entitlement programs and reform our tax code.
Addressing Government Waste
As chairman of the Budget Committee’s Government Performance Task Force, Sen. Warner’s Government Performance and Results Modernization Act was signed into law in 2011 to identify and reform ineffective and duplicative federal programs.
Government Transparency
The bipartisan Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA), introduced by Sen. Warner in 2013, will track every dollar of federal spending to easily identity waste, fraud and abuse. In 2014, the DATA Act was passed by Congress and signed into law, marking the biggest advancement in government transparency since the Freedom of Information Act.
You are invited to come and meet your Senator in person and to join in the discussion.
Senator Mark Warner will talk about student debt with students and community members at Sweet Briar College from 9 to 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4, in the Josey Dining Room at Protho Hall on the Sweet Briar campus. The event will be co-hosted by the Amherst County Democratic Committee and the College’s Young Democrats Club. For more information, contact committee chair Ned Kable at (434) 989-2846.
Consider attending.
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News
ACVDN
