Mark R. Warner

As the national discussion about reforming health care continues, we've launched a new page to help answer your questions and give you a chance to express your views.

In addition to traditional town halls, which will be scheduled later this month, and telephone town halls, which provide an opportunity for thousands of Virginians from across the Commonwealth to participate at once, we've also solicited questions here on our website via Google Moderator.

Over the past several weeks, more than 600 visitors have submitted nearly 500 specific questions about health care reform. We've posted Senator Warner's video responses to some of the most common questions.

We've also created a page of frequently asked questions and links to resources to give you more information about proposals surrounding the health reform discussion.

(Of course, you can always call our office to express your views.)

Click here to visit our "Information and Resources Page on Health Care" page.

Senator Warner appeared on CNBC today, to talk about his op-ed calling for a single banking regulator.  He also talks about health care.  Here is the interview:

In an op-ed published in the Financial Times this morning, Senator Warner argues for a single regulator to be in charge of overseeing the banking industry.

Right now, the U.S. has multiple regulatory agencies with overlapping jurisdiction over the same banks.  As Senator Warner writes:

As complicated as this may appear it has a clear consequence: it would allow financial groups to continue to shop for the weakest regulator. ... This system is inefficient, unaccountable, and expensive to administer. It is inconsistent in its approach and would be uneven in its results. It is poorly equipped to identify industry-wide trends and conditions early. Competition among federal regulators makes no more sense in banking than in food safety or air traffic control.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has proposed combining the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).  But Senator Warner believes the Obama Administration should go even further, creating a single banking regulator:  

We need a single agency combining the OTS and OCC while absorbing the responsibilities of the FDIC and Federal Reserve for prudential regulation and supervision of banks and their holding companies, affiliates and subsidiaries. This agency should have a level of independence commensurate with the FDIC and Federal Reserve (including an independent chair) with the authority to oversee banks from top to bottom and end to end.

Click here to read the entire op-ed.

Senator Warner, who is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has been vocal on the need to reform the way we regulate the banking industry.  In June, he wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post arguing for the creation of a systemic risk council to monitor institutions before they become "too big to fail."

Senator Warner received a letter from U.S. Secretary of the Department of Interior Ken Salazer today informing us that he will dispatch a National Park Service team to the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford to make a preliminary assessment of whether the site might be eligible for inclusion in the National Park Service system.

The letter was in response to earlier requests by Senator Warner and the Virginia congressional delegation urging Secretary Salazar to conduct such a study.  

There is no information on when that site visit might occur, but we would expect it to be timely. Secretary Salazar’s letter ends with an acknowledgement of the significance of the Memorial in “honoring those who contributed so significantly to the ending of World War II.”

Here is the letter:

Senator Warner appeared on ABC News Now's "Top Line" this afternoon. The majority of the discussion focused on the health reform debate, and the Senator talked about his focus on containing costs in health care: 

"We've got to move away from the current system, which is based upon volume of procedures and traditional fee-for-service, and move back to the accountable care models that reward health care providers based upon outcome, not on the number of tests or drugs they give you."

He also was asked about the loudest voices on both sides of the debate: 

"Everybody's going to have to give a little bit to get a reform when you're taking on something that's this big.  Everybody who is in favor of reform ought to be fighting back against some of the disinformation that's coming out of the other side, rather than taking whacks at some of the Democrats and moderate Republicans who we're all going to need to be part of a solution set."

Click here to watch the video.

This morning, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $720,000 grant to J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond for the development of a new workforce training program for next-generation electric vehicles.

The grant will be used to create a new "Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Career Studies" certificate program at JRSCC.  The program will focus on training future technicians to work in the electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

JSRCC, which is only one of 10 education programs selected by the Department of Energy, wrote in a release that their new program will create a new crop of technicians trained in next-generation battery and electric vehicles:

“This grant will allow JSRCC to maintain its position of providing leading edge automotive technology to our students. As manufactures move toward electric propulsion vehicles, JSRCC will be able to provide highly qualified graduates for these emerging technologies. By providing the courses in a distance learning format, the reach of the program will be national in scope,” said Bob Heinz, Ph.D., JSRCC Dean of the School of Business and Engineering Technologies.

The funding is part of a $2.4 billion investment from the economic recovery package to accelerate the manufacturing and deployment of electric cars, batteries, and components here in the United States.  Companies receiving the grants must come up with matching funds, and these investments are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and jump-start development of a U.S.-based car-battery industry.

Senator Warner appeared on MSNBC's "The Ed Show" yesterday to discuss the need for health reform.  He said the status quo for those who have health insurance, as well as those who don't, would be "disastrous:"

"If you maintain your health insurance, you're going to see your health costs double over the next decade if we keep the current system in place. ... If you feel, as I do, that we've got to be concerned about the federal deficit: the federal deficit is going to go way over the top... if we can't drive our costs down around Medicare and Medicaid.

"So whether the concern is around coverage or my concern about making sure we've got a financial stable system, the status quo is a disaster."

He also spoke out against the "egregious" misinformation and scare tactics coming from the "anti-reform" crowd, particuarly around the proposals to give seniors more options when dealing with end-of-life issues. 

Senator Warner has introduced legislation to strengthen the quality and availability of end-of-life counseling, support services, and care management for patients and their families.  

Senator Warner was able to secure funding for 21 energy and water projects that are designed to improve infrastructure, protect the environment, and promote economic development across Virginia.

The funding requests were included in the FY2010 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, which was approved by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday night.  The bill provides funding for the Departments of Energy and the Interior, Army Corps of Engineers, and economic development projects. 

From here, the bill will be "reconciled" with the House version, and a final bill will be put to vote later this year.  

Here are the projects and the funding amounts by region.  For descriptions of each projects, click on the region name to view the press release.

Hampton Roads

• Dismal Swamp and Dismal Canal; Chesapeake, VA -- $78,000
• Chowan River Basin, Chesapeake, Va -- $215,000
• Storm Water Management Program, Chesapeake Bay -- $220,000
• Willoughby Spit and Vicinity, Norfolk, VA -- $243,000
• Dismal Swamp Canal Route, Chesapeake, VA -- $320,000
• Regional Sediment Management, Mathews County, VA -- $350,000
• Norfolk Harbor and Channels – Deepening, Norfolk, VA  -- $1,000,000
• Chesapeake Bay Oyster Recovery Program, Chesapeake Bay, VA -- $2,000,000
• Tangier Island Jetty, Accomack County, VA -- Listed To Be Eligible To Receive Funds
• Thomas Jefferson National Lab, Newport News, VA -- $22,000,000

Northern Virginia

• Upper Rappahannock River (Phase II); Rapidan Tributary, VA -- $170,000
• Four Mile Run Restoration; City of Alexandria and Arlington County, VA -- $100,000

Shenandoah Valley

• Shenandoah Valley as a National Demonstration Project Achieving 25 Percent Renewable Energy by the Year 2025; James Madison University -- $750,000
• Gathright Dam & Lake Moomaw; Bath County, VA -- $255,000

• Grundy Flood Control Project; Grundy, VA -- $4,000,0003
• Clinch River Watershed; Tazewell, Russell, Scott, Lee and Wise Counties, VA -- $130,000
• New River, Claytor Lake; Claytor Lake, VA -- $90,000
• Appalachian Regional Commission -- $76 million

Senator Warner introduced bipartisan legislation today with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker that would allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to takeover and "wind down" banks owned by larger financial firms known as bank holding companies. 

A bank holding company is an institution that controls one or more banks. The FDIC currently has the authority to assist a failing bank, but it does not have clear authority to sell-off failing banks or thrifts within the holding company.  

This legislation would place a bank holding company into the hands of the FDIC if a particular insured depository institution within the holding company structure needs to be resolved.  This authority will help prevent the government from having to prop-up failing institutions, as we've seen in the past year.

Senators Warner and Corker, both members of the Senate Banking Committee, said the legislation is neccesary to fill a glaring regulatory gap in the current system.  They see this as an interim step as Congress and the Obama administration continue work on broader regulatory reform. 

Senator Warner said:

“While the Banking Committee continues working to fix what is broken in our hodge-podge system of financial regulation, this legislation represents an interim step to patch a problem with the existing regulatory structure.

"While the FDIC has the authority to resolve failing banks, it does not have the authority to resolve bank holding companies, and that creates complications which places deposit holders and the deposit insurance fund at greater risk. Senator Corker and I believe that is a risk we cannot afford and should not allow to continue.”

The Resolution Reform Act of 2009 is the second piece of bipartisan legislation jointly sponsored Senators Warner and Corker. The senators also have introduced The TARP Recipient Ownership Trust Act of 2009, designed to quickly relinquish the federal government’s ownership stake in private companies such as AIG, General Motors and Citibank in a responsible, orderly manner that will protect and maximize the taxpayer’s investment.

Over the weekend, thousands of Americans from across the country traveled to Wise County in Southwest Virginia to attend Mission of Mercy, a Remote Area Medical Clinic held annually that provides free dental and eye exams to those without coverage or those who can’t afford to see doctors on their own.

Our health care legislative aide, Aryana Khalid, was there helping out, and wrote this report:

This weekend, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the RAM/Mission of Mercy Clinic in Wise County for the second year in a row. Southwest Virginia is one of the neediest areas in Virginia, particularly for dental care. The region is particularly challenged because of a culture that accepts losing teeth at a young age and tends to have poor nutritional habits. So when Mission of Mercy comes to town you can expect there will be long lines, long waits, and people sleeping in tents outside the fairground to get a spot.

Sadly, the lines were worse this year than I had anticipated even when you factor in the recession. It was truly overwhelming to see. It was what I imagine being in a third world country’s health clinic is like. On the first day alone over 1,600 people were admitted onto the fairgrounds, more than double years past. We were unable to see everyone by the end of the weekend. But over the entire weekend, medical, dental, and vision care were provided to 2,715 uninsured and underinsured people.

Despite the numbers and long waits the people of Southwest Virginia were kind and grateful as they always are. They kept thanking me for coming all the way down from DC and I kept saying it was the least I could do to help. In reality, I wasn’t really doing all that much, just helping to keep the line flowing and trying to keep folks entertained with a little conversation and jokes about being in the “hot seat” when they were next in line for service.

The great thing about managing the line is hearing all the great stories. One that sticks out is about Edith and her husband who cook for the volunteers every Friday night of Mission of Mercy. She and her husband are both employed – they are caterers -- but they do not have dental insurance. She said they had both been to the dentist but the price they were quoted for care, over $1,200 for her alone, was something they could not afford. She even tried to set up a payment plan, but couldn’t reach an agreement that worked for her and the dentist.

I was asked to expedite Edith and her husband so they could get back to keep cooking for us. Edith had 15 teeth extracted and then went right on back on to cooking, without missing a beat. I was amazed to see her strength and her desire to provide the volunteers with a little something in exchange for their help. The next day Edith and her husband came by to thank the dentist. They brought him some pork tenderloin as a small gift for what he did for them.

When we talk about health reform and health policy, sometimes many of us forget that there are real people with real lives who are often in pain trying to find a way to make a living and provide for their families. I thank the people of Southwest Virginia for their hospitality, kindness, and for humanizing the work I try to do here on the Hill every day, like no one else could.

Seeing the crowd makes you realize that in the United States, we should not need Missions of Mercy or RAM projects.  It gives me new motivation to keep working on health reform to fix our broken system, so the thousands who came out this weekend don't get turned away again.

NPR was also in Wise County this weekend and filed this report on Monday: