Mark Warner to the budget rescue

"...Warner actually believes Congress and the president should take on big programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, taxes and defense spending."

What is THAT supposed to mean?!? Is he proposing CUTTING Social Security?? I'm tired of politicians raiding that fund. It's bad enough what happened to Social Security under Clinton. People paid into that fund for their retirement, that wasn't some general tax fund for politicians to claim as a surplus, or loot whenever their tax base drops due to a bad economy.

Tell me they're not going to throw old people onto the streets to pay for Bush's illegal wars and subsequent bailouts to prevent ruin after bubbles ran wild with lax financial oversight post=Glass-Steagall!

Mark Warner is just another one of Harry Reid's butt boys.

What cdierd1944 said.

Mark Warner was named the BEST GOVERNOR in the country when he was Gov of Va.

THIS WAS TRUE THEN.

Then he went to Washington and voted for a bill he never even read. (Healthcare) He has become a part of the Washington political machine. I am so dissapointed in him and will never vote for him again. He "went along" in Washington with something he would never have tolerated in the state of VA.
Now he wants to proclaim himself the deficit pouncer of Washington?
People shouldn't listen to any drivel from the mouth of a politician.
Watch what they actually do.
Mark lost his edge when he moved his butt to Washington.

John Boehner is as effective as a Speaker as Zippy the Chimp would be- he can't control either his emotions or his membership. How dare he even open up his mouth.

John Boehner is as effective as a Speaker as Zippy the Chimp would be- he can't control either his emotions or his membership. How dare he even open up his mouth.

You state that perhaps a government overhaul is in order; I contend that the congress itself is in the biggest need of reforming!

Reading the comments to Mr. Light's article illustrates why politicians are confused about what America wants. Warner's efforts to achieve a biparisan solution to our fiscal problems is indeed laudatory. However, if the comments here are any illustration, too many people would rather have a partisan food fight than solve the problem in a responsible manner. David Brooks has an excellent op-ed piece in the NYT today about how to address the fiscal crisis, and also how not to address it. Time for us to come to grips with what the American people want the government to do, and how much they are willing to pay to have those functions done right. Hopefully, there are more thoughtful people, like Mr. Warner, who are willing to take on the task.

Hooray for Warner (D) and Chambliss (R) for doing the job they are paid for. FINALLY someone is acting like professional adults. The Prez is doing exactly what he is supposed to be doing....designating...that is what a leader does.

Mark Warner was named the BEST GOVERNOR in the country when he was Gov of Va. He is a very successful businesman and made it know he is not interested in the job of the Prez...he was asked more than once. He would make a FINE PREZ....

On democracy and the rest of the world (arabs) watching us. DEMOCRACy is MESSY folks...take a history course, a course in govt...do some reading and turn off Glenn Beck, Rush Limble, etc etc and Fox News...
Go to the library and do some research.

I have the greatest confidence in Mark Warner and Saxby Chambliss ...they are two fine sane men....hooray for them.

And the thing is, folks, you have too much time on your hands and are going crazy on all this stuff....it has been around for the last 30 years but you never paid any attention to it. Now it is all the Prez and Dems fault. It is an accumulation of 30 years of the public not paying attention.

Get a job, everyone and get a life. We will survive....America is a great country.

An Independent and hopeful voter in USA

Where was Warner two years ago? Warner has been voting for spending up a storm. Warner railed against entitlements and then voted for yet another in Health Care.

It took the voters to demand fiscal responsibility and FINALLY get Mark Warner's attention. Warner loves stepping into the limelight long after leadership should have taken him there and then get people to think he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. He is a glad handing, opportunistic, classically phony politician.
.

I hope he can suceed in finding middle gound.

When is Congress going to realize enhancing and enforcing stronger federal employee whistleblower protection laws is the best start to helping to control spending within the federal government? While a CEO, it would seem very unlikely Senator Warner would have let fraud, waste and abuse of programs and funds continue for any length of time without cleaning house from within. Now I ask when is he and other Congress members going to take the same type of action to clean house within the federal government?

There are many active or removed federal employees who have taken a stand to protect the taxpayers against fraud, waste and abuse who are now, or were prior to being removed, harrassed, publicly humiliated, downgraded and treated worse than criminals but have little or no protection with the current laws, even if they were enforced. Wouldn't it seem now is the time to strengthen those laws to protect federal whistleblowers and thus help protect our democratic society?

And I ask the general public, when are you going to get involved and take a stand to protect federal employee whistleblowers by asking your senators and representatives to greatly enhance and insist on enforcement of protection of federal whistleblowers?

Considering that Mark Warner signed the massive (unread, budget busting ) healthcare bill into law, now he's trying to pander to who?

Oh. Some of those he thinks he can fool, in order to keep his political career going.

Gee Mark. I'm one of the ones that you can't fool.
Not now and not in 2012.

how fast would the deficit go away if these nimrods stopped bush and cheney's wars? obama promised to end the wars, didn't he? his big fault is lack of cojones.
as a result, the most vulnerable, the very old and the very young, are the losers.

Paul Light, WaPost: “As a rising star on the Senate Budget Committee, Warner actually believes Congress and the president should take on big programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, taxes and defense spending.” “By the way, Warner could move the package along with a strong section on government reform. It's time for that overhaul Obama promised in his State of the Union address.”

The reforms that Senator Warner is looking at (and lobbyists are already gunning for him for even looking at them) are detailed in the Fiscal Responsibility and Reform document produced by the President’s Commission. See Section I (discretionary spending) at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/TheMomentofTruth.pdf.

The recommendations are fairly horrific but also a MUST DO if there is going to be any kind of future for ‘our Posterity’. One of the short term recommendations is the capping of all federal pay and hiring for five years, freezing of spending on Medicare and Medicaid at 2010 levels and elimination of ‘regulatory’ administration processes that are no longer relevant to anything. Most of these are sections of Recommendation I.1 through I.10 and the effect can be seen in figure 5 of the Moment of Truth document. A lot of these recommendations cut ‘mission creep’ costs that routinely occur in administration of anything, but in industry if an executive said ‘cut department budgets by 10%’, that’s what you got, not a ‘politically correct’ amendment off the House floor or a back door veto in the Senate.

Following the Section I recommendations Senator Warner is proposing would cut about $60 billion (half of Figure 5 estimates) a year, so it is worth more consideration than the 600 amendment shotgun approach used by the House. But Section II (tax reform) might be fiscally better even if absolutely no citizens will like it. The only way to really do tax reform is through a health care related national sales tax ($400 billion per year in revenue paid by everyone) that can’t be used for anything else. Section I discretionary spending cuts by themselves are a good start for lowering the cost of government over a five year period but other Sections need to be considered as well under not just General Welfare and Liberty (freedom from excess taxation and debt) but also under Common Defense and ‘our Posterity’ considerations.

If 50% of the federal work force went home today the country would not notice anything more than a 10% reduction in work product.

Please send them home!

As a Virginia voter, I too got Warner's recent self-congratulatory email about his budget initiatives -- from an email address that doesn't accept replies. So far he hasn't shared any details or real priorities. Arbitrary cuts and gimmicks (such as his idea of killing one old regulation for each new one)are no substitute for thoughtful analysis based on clear values and priorities. Overall, Warner is misplaced as a legislator; he has an executive's perspective and personality, with more emphasis on management than negotiations or actual conversations with voters. (No, this is not an endorsement of him for president. I prefer the one we have.) Perhaps Warner can pull off a sensible budget deal. So far his efforts look less like leadership than self-promotion.

The GOP is absolutely fantastic at repeating slogans like "everyone needs to share the burden." OK! Let's share! The middle clas has already taken a hit. The lower class has taken a hit. The unions are making concessions. So... why are Exxon's profits through the roof? Why can't rich people pay 39% instead of 35%?

Let's not forget that when W. entered office we had a balanced budget and projections that promised to pay down the deficit within our lifetime. He chose to follow his veep's advice (Remember: "Reagan taught us that deficits don't matter") and decided to lower taxes at the same time we embarked on a two-front war. The result: an economic meltdown that forced Obama's hand as soon as he took office. Where was Mark Warner's (and all the other "moderates") leadership when W. proposed these tax cuts for the megarich (like Mark Warner)?

Makes perfect sense to me edynot.However whom the gods would destroy they first drive mad. I'm afraid our country has been mad for some time now.

More often than not, I vote Republican because of their fiscal soundness. But I have always voted Mark Warner. I love what he is doing about the budget; now if he would only start reforming Obamacare, he will be beatified, or knighted, in my book. I am ready to donate and campaign to this guy, like I did before.

It's amazing to me how the media, the right wing and complacent (or paid for) democrats have ignored what caused the deficts in the first place. Here we are debating how much "hurt" the most vunerable of our society: ederly, sick and poor american neighbors, should endure without mentioning what has happened since 2000 when we had projected surpluses. Too many tax breaks to the wealthiest americans while we started two unwinnable wars. Don't tell me it was worth it. Just yesterday was Iraq's "Day of Rage". After what this country sacrificed in lives and treasure. Are you kidding me? And if tax breaks are the sure bet way to grow the economy then how'd we get into a recession in the first place? Why not admit we messed up and reverse our errors? Instead, "Captain Compromise" and the "The Town Cryer" extend tax breaks to the tune of a trillion a year. And presto-suddenly we have a "spending" problem that needs immediate attention? Really? End the wars, reverse the tax breaks and voila...we're back on track. Why should the poor take the hit while rich folks and the military complex receive and receive? It's shameful! "Budget Rescue" my rear. How is slashing spending going to resue the economy? Everyone agrees It'll hurt it- too much would cause another reccession. And so, revenues will again go DOWN because taxes won't bring in as much revenue when the econmy shrinks. And then what should we do? More slashing, I guess, which creates less revenue- more slashing -less revenue until we have what? Neglected old, sick and poor americans and a weak Government. Breaks BP's and Haliburton's hearts, I'm sure. For goodness sakes-end the wars, raise taxes and start building infrastructure here at home and this "deficit crisis" goes away. And who knows, maybe we can actually help out some folks that need it in the process.

1)he needs to get our 12.8 trillion back from wallstreeters and bankers...BLOOMBERG V/S FEDERAL RESERVE SUPRM CT DOCKET 2)he needs to go after the 4 trillion GOLDEN WELFARE RETIREMENT MEDICAL PENSION PLANS that they have so VOTED for themselves especially since it violates FREDERAL LAW and the conflict of interest clause;;also needs to factor the other federal law violation""in that they have denied us all of ""honest services""and leave SS alone and reinstate COLA ;;after all they still allow COLA in their 4 trillion in the hole fed pensions !!#) do like KUWAIT;;give us free education incl 4 yrs college;;TAKE NO TAXES but GIVE a tax refund from the gov as a share of the wealth((oh thats right we give it all away w/foreign aid/wars /coporate welfare/bankers /wallstreeters/etc ....))THEY PROVIDE FREE HEALTH CARE FROM BIRTH TO GRAVE..THEY HAVE 35 CENTS FOR GAS..WHILE WE HAVE 30-50 % increase in food cost((because we give all our food away thus forcing us to subsideies the world by higher food cost to us !!,,they also have the best standard of living and best paying jobs and bmw in every household;;;we spend 53 % of our budget on military so we can fight their war of freedom from iran !!and so we can outsourse and move our factories overseas and protect them w/our 600 military bases...sweet hun,, we pay our tax dollars so coporate am can do buz safelly in 3 rd worlds countries just so the ceo,s can get 400 % more money than we the workers;;so they can have yatch while we get unemployment !!;;;and they still want to cut into the only 12 % of the budget that is targeted for us !!,,,(( yes i purposlly ommited the blood loss due to the wars))kuwait is the only middle east country not tring to overthrow its KINGSHIP !!i wonder why ??warner may have us all"" WALKING LIKE AN EYGPTIAN""!!

Here's an idea: What if every member of Congress applies all of his/her campaign funds to the deficit?

Seems to me that all the money they raise for reelection would make a decent
dent in the deficit.
Oh, wait…how silly of me. They are more interesting in their money-grubbing ways to even consider the best interests of our nation. A nation that they and their colleagues have brought to its knees for the sake of being in power and thus showering themselves in the manna from lobbyist and Wall Street.

"I received Warner's email with a number of paragraphs extolling his virtues as an adult. At this point after so many empty promises to deal with these debt and budget problems, the last thing we need is more blather and aargle bargle about what is GOING TO HAPPEN. Tough Choices ahead!!

So far I haven't see any specific proposals from Warner/Chambliss, only advertising. And this column is just more advertising. Let's not hand out the Nobel Peace Prizes until there is at least a concrete PROPOSAL or two to look at."
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Haven't you heard? It isn't necessary to actually achieve ANYTHING to win the Nobel Peace Prize any more. LOL.

I received Warner's email with a number of paragraphs extolling his virtues as an adult. At this point after so many empty promises to deal with these debt and budget problems, the last thing we need is more blather and aargle bargle about what is GOING TO HAPPEN. Tough Choices ahead!!

So far I haven't see any specific proposals from Warner/Chambliss, only advertising. And this column is just more advertising. Let's not hand out the Nobel Peace Prizes until there is at least a concrete PROPOSAL or two to look at.

The two political parties are $61 billion apart on a budget that is $3,761 billion and when the national debt is $14,000 billion.

Mr. Warner is turning into some serious presidential material.

Over 3 trillion dollars in the federal budget.

Cutting 2 dollars brings howls of protest.

Would cutting 1 trillion dollars make any difference in the whining?

Why do politicians spend more than revenue? Don't they care about the country?
Do they value their re-election more than their country?