Mark R. Warner

WASHINGTON - While Congress attempts to stave off the devastating across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration, Republican Sen. Rand Paul says it wouldn't be such a bad idea if the sequester goes through.

"I think the sequester has to go through," Paul, R-Ky., told WTOP Thursday morning. "People need to realize the sequester is not really a cut in spending. It's a cut in the rate of growth of spending."

He adds that a new proposal by Senate Democrats to avoid sequestration with a mix of spending cuts and new tax revenue is a bad idea.

"Another dumb idea," said Paul, who on Tuesday delivered the tea party response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. "They just raised taxes three months ago. Did they not get enough of a fix then? We've got to cut spending."

In response, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., says allowing sequestration to take effect March 1 would be "a stupid way to cut."

"Sequestration was set up to be the stupidest way possible to cut," he told WTOP Thursday. "It cuts every component of government, regardless of whether the progam works or doesn't work."

As a result, the government will be breaking multiple contracts, he says.

"We're going to furlough government contractors one day a week. That's going to have a ripple effect across the whole capital region's economy," Warner said.

Paul maintains that any tax hike is a bad idea.

"The only real stimulus that ever works is leaving more money in the economy, which means lowering taxes," he said.

"Cutting the rate of growth of spending is absolutely a good idea. I don't think it will hurt the economy one bit," Paul added.

The sequester would drain $85 billion from the Pentagon and domestic programs, with the D.C. region feeling the pinch the hardest.

"The idea of 'plague every house,' it may be a good political soundbyte but it doesn't have any connection to anybody who's ever done a budget, run a business or knows how to operate an enterprise," Warner said.

He said he hopes the Democratic plan is successful, but if not, then cuts should be done in a less devastating manner.

"There is blame enough to go around for both parties. Democrats (have) got to be more willing to do entitlement reform. Republicans (have) got to be willing to do more revenues," said Warner.

"Even areas like defense need to be cut, but there's a smart way and a stupid way to cut them. We set up the most stupid way."

Ambar Pinto, a young Fairfax County woman advocating immigration reform, has the rare chance of taking her case to Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

After reading about Pinto’s story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week, Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., decided to invite her to be his guest at President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech.

“I was moved by her obvious love for this country and by her willingness to work extra hard to have a shot at achieving the American dream,” Warner said.

Pinto, 19, is an undocumented immigrant from Bolivia. She came to Virginia seven years ago with her parents and younger brother, using a counterfeit visa to cross the border from Mexico. She’s a graduate of Fairfax High School and a sophomore at Northern Virginia Community College, majoring in international business.

“Ms. Pinto’s dreams and her drive represent the promise of so many young people across Virginia,” Warner said. “Her story reminds each of us that our commonwealth will become stronger when we create a responsible pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants and their children,” he said.

Paying $2,500 per semester at her community college, Pinto had big hopes for the success of the Virginia DREAM Act, a proposal that would have allowed eligible undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates. Last week, the House Education panel backed the bill, but it stalled in a House Appropriations Committee. The Senate Education and Health Committee defeated similar legislation.

Pinto said she was disappointed with the bill’s failure but now hopes Washington will take on comprehensive immigration reform. She will meet with Warner on Tuesday before attending the president’s speech before a joint session of Congress.

Members of Congress are allowed to bring one guest to the event. Some refer to the invite as the “golden ticket.”

“This is such a big honor. It is very exciting,” Pinto said. “I am very involved in my community, but I never expected to get something back in return. It will be an unforgettable experience.”

Faced with profound Navy budget cuts this spring that could wallop Hampton Roads' economy, Virginia's senators and the region's three congressmen said this week they don't consider the reductions inevitable - as has been suggested by some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

But the Virginians agree that with each passing day, the prospect of halting billions of dollars in cuts slated to automatically begin March 1 becomes more daunting.

"Time is not on our side," said U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell, whose 2nd Congressional District is home to several military installations, including Norfolk Naval Station and Oceana Naval Air Station.

Rigell and others in the local delegation lamented the lack of action by top congressional leaders or President Barack Obama to more aggressively pursue a compromise to avoid the military cuts.

At the same time, Sen. Mark Warner said he's begun pressing colleagues to consider a plan to avoid some large cuts altogether, and slow the impact of others, by allowing the Navy more authority to transfer funds.

"I will match my budget hawk credentials against anybody, but there's a smart way and a dumb way to cut," Warner said Thursday.

At play are two separate budget issues that involve reductions in military spending for naval operations and maintenance, as well as ship repairs and new construction. Economists at Old Dominion University said this week that the cuts would cost the region from 28,700 to 42,300 jobs, both directly and indirectly.

The one-two punch is slated to start March 1 when $1 trillion in automatic cuts spread over 10 years will begin unless Congress steps in. The reduction, known as a sequester, is divided between military and domestic programs.

The Navy said last week those cuts, which would amount to about $4 billion this year, would require eliminating or scaling back many operations worldwide and would force civilian defense employees to take up to 22 days of unpaid leave. In Hampton Roads, tens of millions of dollars in ship repairs would be canceled.

Meanwhile, the Navy is taking steps to curtail another $4.6 billion in spending because a divided Congress has yet to approve a 2013 budget. Lawmakers have only agreed to pay expenses until March 27 under 2012 budget levels, which gives the Navy less money than anticipated.

If Congress decides in the next few weeks to keep funding at last year's level, Navy leaders said, they'll make a broad array of cuts that directly affect Hampton Roads' ship repair and construction industrial base.

U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, who was visiting local shipyards and Navy facilities Thursday and today to talk with the affected businesses and Navy officials, blames the Senate for failing to pass its own 2013 budget plan that would be used to negotiate with the budget the House passed several months ago. He also has accused the Obama administration of refusing until recently to allow the Pentagon to publicize how the cuts might affect military operations.

"I think we will avoid the worst-case scenarios... but every day it gets more and more difficult," Forbes said.

Warner said a way out - at least temporarily - is for the Navy to be allowed to shift funds between accounts to deal with immediate needs.

The Virginia Democrat said Navy officials have told him they have $3.6 billion in some accounts for projects that have been completed, which could be shifted to accounts with shortfalls. But the service would need congressional approval to do so.

"My hope and prayer is that we can provide the flexibility... not to waste money," Warner said, noting that cutting the ship repair projects budgets will make the work much more expensive later. "It's bad business," he said.

As for sequestration, Warner still favors reducing deficit spending through a combination of budget cuts, entitlement reforms and new revenue. Like many in Congress, he never intended for sequestration to happen. The automatic cuts were set up by lawmakers in 2011 as a doomsday threat to force Congress to adopt a deficit-reduction plan. When no plan was approved, the cuts were set in motion.

Warner said if no deal can be negotiated and the automatic cuts begin, Congress should give the military more control over where cuts are made, rather than enforce the across-the-board cuts demanded under sequestration.

"I've got to convince them that's not the right choice, but even if that is their choice... there's a stupid way and a less stupid way to do it."

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine said he hopes Congress finds a way to postpone sequestration, giving legislators time to adopt an annual budget that addresses the fiscal issues.

"Why would we be making short-term... decisions that are a holdover from a previous Congress that could not get it right when we are embarking upon a budget process?" Kaine asked during a Senate hearing.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, who also said he's disturbed by the size of the Navy cuts, noted that they are linked to Congress's decision in early January to renew the so-called Bush tax cuts for most Americans.

The Newport News Democrat has long argued that the tax cuts should have been allowed to expire to help pay for government services, including defense, and reduce the deficit. He contends most people would not object to the taxes if they understood what services would be cut.

"The problem is that they voted to extend $4 trillion tax cuts but failed to articulate how we're going to pay for it.... Did they not think we were going to get to this point in three weeks? What did they think was going to happen? Did they think it was just going to go away?"

RICHMOND — The secret plan began unfolding about two weeks ago. Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. went to Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling with a way to redraw Senate districts and make them more favorable to Republicans.

But Bolling rejected the idea, fearing that it would set a bad precedent, according to two people familiar with the meeting but not authorized to discuss it publicly. Bolling, who would be needed to break a tie vote in the evenly divided Senate, also thought the move would so inflame partisan passions that lawmakers would lose sight of such priorities as transportation and education.

Republicans would have to wait for the right opportunity.

It presented itself on Inauguration Day, when Virginia Democrats basked in their second straight presidential win and one in particular traveled to Washington to witness President Obama’s swearing-in: Sen. Henry L. Marsh III (D-Richmond).

With the civil rights lawyer, who decades ago argued school desegregation cases and served as Richmond’s first black mayor, away in the District on Monday, Republicans saw their chance. They took up a bill that had been on the calendar for days, only to be passed over every time, and gave it the legislative equivalent of an extreme makeover.

Left over from last year, the original bill called for “technical adjustments” to House district boundaries. On Monday, without hearings or notice, Republicans amended it on the floor so that it also called for far-reaching changes to state Senate districts. The debate on the 36-page amendment was limited to 30 minutes.

The bill, approved 20 to 19, concentrates minority voters in a new Southside district and changes most district lines. Democrats said the new map would make eight districts, six of them held by Democrats, more heavily Republican. The map, which now goes before the Republican-controlled House, also puts senators R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) and Emmett W. Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta) into one district. It also adds more Democrats to three already deeply blue districts.

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) was among those surprised by the new political map. He said he was concerned that his own party’s redistricting attempt will kill any bipartisan spirit and torpedo his ambitious agenda in his final year as governor.

McDonnell declined to say whether he would sign the legislation. He added that he was only informed of the Republicans’ plan shortly before the bill hit the floor Monday and watched it unfold on TV from his office in the Capitol.

“I certainly don’t think that’s a good way to do business,” said McDonnell, adding, “This was not an initiative that I advocated.”

Sen. John C. Watkins (R-Powhatan) said the changes would give Virginia a sixth majority-black district and protect the commonwealth from possible litigation under the Voting Rights Act. He also said the map would improve on the lines that Democrats had drawn to benefit their party when they controlled Richmond’s upper chamber.

“As those who were here then will recall, the 2011 redistricting process was not this body’s finest hour,” Watkins said. “The map that was produced was lambasted for dividing too many localities, splitting too many precincts, having high deviations between districts, violating basic standards of compactness and discounting communities of interest.”

In 2011, the then-Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-controlled House hatched plans meant to protect their incumbents, but McDonnell vetoed the plans saying the maps could split too many local jurisdictions and violate state and federal laws. The legislators then agreed to new maps.

Watkins said those lines still fell short, although the Republican moderate acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that he was somewhat uncomfortable leading the charge on the changes. He said he did so at the request of Senate Republican leaders.

Norment (R-James City) did not return messages seeking comment. On the Senate floor Tuesday, he said that the new map makes the districts “more compact,” noting that the Democrats’ plan in 2011 put him in a district “that ran me almost from the North Carolina line to the outskirts of Richmond.”

Democrats accused Republicans of trying to “pack and crack” black voting power and of exploiting the absence of a civil rights leader, on the occasion of the second inauguration of the nation’s first black president, to do it. That Monday also happened to be Martin Luther King Day only added to their anger.

“We’ve witnessed a redistricting bill thrust upon us without any notice . . . done under the guise of being good to black folk,” Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) said on the floor Tuesday.

The state constitution calls for redistricting every decade after the decennial census in years ending in 1. Democrats take that to mean that redistricting can only take place every 10 years, but some Republicans suggest that the 10 years is a minimum, not a maximum.

Legislators have tweaked the district lines in off years, sometimes at the behest of registrars who discover problems such as split precincts. But the map the Senate passed Monday, which would go into effect in 2015, went beyond the typical off-year tinkering.

Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) compared the move to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

“I realize the introduction of this particular amendment may be a surprise,” Watkins said as he addressed Senate colleagues.

“World War II was a surprise,” Saslaw shot back.

In a statement, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine also criticized the legislation.

“On a day when Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and inaugurated Barack Obama as president, Virginia Senate Republicans took advantage of the absence of civil rights leader Sen. Henry Marsh to push through a hyper-partisan change to Virginia’s already gerrymandered legislative district map,” the Virginia Democrats’ statement read. “This is not the way we should be conducting the people’s business in Virginia.”

State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), the presumptive Republican nominee for governor this year, said Tuesday that he had not seen the details of the redistricting plan.

“I have to deal with defending it now,” Cuccinelli said. “I’m not worried about the constitutionality of it. I’m worried about how it plays out in the General Assembly.”

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe, the lone Democrat running this year to succeed McDonnell, also weighed in.

“I join Governor McDonnell in urging the legislature to end this divisive partisan effort and instead focus on making Virginia the best place for business with mainstream solutions on transportation and education,” McAuliffe said. “We simply cannot afford to have the legislature spend more time on divisive partisan fights, especially as we have so many important issues to address.”

Bolling, who is weighing an independent bid for governor, had “grave concerns” about the Republicans’ plan partly because it would erase district lines adopted just two years ago. “He’s concerned that it could create a hyper-partisan atmosphere that could make it very difficult for us to address other important priorities,” said Ibbie Hedrick, deputy chief of staff for Bolling.

But the reports, which Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) likened to agency "busy work," will continue unless Congress explicitly authorizes their elimination.

All told, OMB has listed 376 duplicative or unnecessary reports, 269 of which could be eliminated altogether.

Now, Warner says he plans to introduce legislation allowing for the elimination or consolidation of these reports.

Identifying the reports is part of the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act, which Warner sponsored and which President Barack Obama signed into law in January 2011. The law required agencies to better align annual performance goals with the long-term aims identified in their four-year strategic plans.

Warner seeking legislative fix

While GPRA also directed agencies to identify the unnecessary reports, because most of them are congressionally-mandated, only official legislation can completely nullify the reporting requirements.

"So, we have to kind of end up coming back and then clean house in effect to fully implement what was identified by GPRA," Warner said in an interview on In Depth with Francis Rose.

Warner said he's still considering the proper legislative fix.

"We're not saying we're going to go in and endorse all of OMB's requirements," he said. "But we want to comb through this, figure out which of these .... we concur with OMB on in terms of either elimination and consolidation."

Warner said the bill would "show to the federal workforce that we're not just simply trying to be additive, that we're actually trying to eliminate some of the outdated and some cases repetitive, ridiculous requirements we, as Congress, have put before folks."

'Cleaning out the underbrush'

Over the years, Congress has been too quick to add to agencies' workload, he said. As circumstances and situations evolve, Congress isn't shy about asking agencies to provide more data, he explained.

"But what we're not very good at is ever going back through and cleaning out the underbrush of programs, regulations and — in this case what we're focused — reporting requirements that outlived their usefulness," he said.

The broader aim of the bill — as with GPRA modernization — is to help agencies further refine their policy goals and allow them enough time and resources to go about implementing them as opposed to being chained to strict reporting requirements.

But there's nothing to stop Congress from continuing to pile on the requests for reports further down the road.

"My hope is what we're doing is a good first step here by eliminating some of the burdensome activity that isn't towards full mission," he said.

The Virginia Senate on Friday approved a bill that would ban anti-LGBT discrimination against state employees.

The 24-16 vote came four days after the Senate General Laws and Technology Committeenarrowly approved Senate Bill 701.

“No state employee should ever doubt Virginia’s commitment toequal opportunity employment for all,”gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria,) who co-sponsored SB 701 with Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico,) said as he spoke in support of the measure on the Senate floor. “This bill assures state employees that they will be judged solely on their merits and that discrimination has no place in Virginia.”

State Sens. Jill Hotzman Vogel (R-Fauquier,) John Watkins (R-Powhatan,) Thomas Norment (R-Williamsburg) and Frank Wagner (R-Virginia Beach) are the four GOP legislators who voted for SB 701. Democratic Sens. Kenneth Alexander, George Barker, R. Creigh Deeds, John Edwards, Barbara Favola, Mark Herring, Janet Howell, Mamie Locke, David Marsden, Henry L. Marsh III, John Miller, Ralph Northam, Phillip Puckett, Linda Puller, Richard Saslaw, Charles Colgan, Chap Petersen, and Louise Lucas also backed the measure alongside Ebbin and McEachin.

“In Virginia, LGBT protections will not pass without bi-partisan support,” Equality Virginia Executive Director James Parrish said. “We are pleased that four Republican senators joined their Democratic colleagues in passing SB701 to protect LGBT state employees. In the private sector, workplace protections are shown to decrease legal vulnerability while enhancing the employer’s reputation, increasing job satisfaction and boosting employee morale and productivity.”

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, who in 2005 signed an executive order as governor that banned anti-gay discrimination against state employees, also applauded the state Senate for approving SB 701.

“I was proud to be the first Virginia governor to protect gay workers at state agencies from discrimination in hiring and promotions. I viewed it as a powerful tool for recruiting and retaining top talent across state government,” he said in a statement. “Today, the principals of equal opportunity and fairness represent official policy for virtually every major employer in Virginia and across the country. I am very, very pleased today to see the Virginia Senate approve this commonsense protection for Virginia’s LGBT workers, making equal opportunity for state and local government employees a permanent part of the Code of Virginia so that it does not have to be renewed every four years through an executive order.”

In spite of the Senate’s approval of SB 710, the measure faces an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled House of Delegates.

Parrish told the Blade last year that its chances of passing in the chamber this year remain“very slim.”

“Making sure elected official hear LGBT issues are important to all Virginians is the most important thing any citizen can do to open hearts and minds across the state,” he said in reference to Equality Virginia’s annual Lobby Day that will take place in Richmond on Tuesday. “We’re very fortunate the Senators that voted in support today are listening to their constituents.”

Arnett, an award-winning military spouse, will attend the swearing-in ceremony at the request of Virginia Sen. Mark R. Warner, who invited her as his special guest.

"It's a part of history," she said. "We're so excited about it."

Arnett is a former leader of the family readiness group (FRG) for her husband's unit. FRGs help by organizing events for families of deployed soldiers and making sure their needs are met. She is an advisory board member with Operation Homefront of the Virginias and volunteers at Eustis as part of a series on spouse empowerment.

She's also written a children's book for military kids, "My Daddy's a Soldier," which benefits USO of Hampton Roads. The couple has two other sons: Harrison, 3, and Levi, 1. She's pursing a master's degree at Regent University.

In 2011, she received the Heroes at Home Military Spouse Award, sponsored by Flagship and Military Newspapers of Virginia.

Arnett is also a big supporter of the Joining Forces initiative, spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr.Jill Biden to mobilize support of military families. She had requested tickets to the inauguration from an official at Joining Forces who had responded positively to Arnett's book. But Arnett credits Warner's staff for passing along her wishes to the senator.

Getting a call at the house from a U.S. senator was pretty neat.

"The whole thing was very personal," she said.

ALEXANDRIA For a brief moment Sunday night, Bailey Griffin had the full attention of U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va.

The senator was wrapping up a pre-57th presidential inauguration meet-and-greet with Cosby High School students — “It’s a tradition now,” Warner said, noting he’d done the same thing four years ago — and stopped for a final question.

Bailey, a Cosby freshman, didn’t hesitate, asking Warner a question about national security.

“It’s important to me because my father is a full-time member of the Virginia National Guard,” she said in a lobby of the George Washington Masonic Memorial here, where the Cosby kids were being treated to a presidential-style gala.

The chance at making her own history may have been new to Bailey, but it’s old hat to Anne Canipe. The Cosby history teacher is leading a group to the inauguration for the ninth straight time.

This year’s group of 35 students, teachers and parents worked in a day of volunteer service at the National Armory, a tour of a wax museum and the night at the Masonic Memorial. Today, the group is staking out a spot on Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the inaugural parade.

“She’s our gold key,” Cosby Assistant Principal Sid Ames said of Canipe. “When she wants something, it gets done.”

Tanya Hughes Jones found that out early this school year.

“She was talking about it on the first parent-teacher night,” said Jones, the mother of freshman Jocelyn Jones. “We didn’t hesitate to sign up. Four years ago, I took Jocelyn and my son, Jalon.

“You can’t miss the chance to be part of a historic moment.”

That chance may have hit home the most with the last person to join the group, senior Reagan Chancellor.

“I didn’t know if I was going to make it,” she said. “I worked to raise my money, but I got it done. And I’m glad I did.

“Last year was the first time I could vote, and I voted for Obama. I just wanted the chance to see him inaugurated.”

She also got the chance to see a candid Warner, who tackled a wide range of subjects in a brief amount of time.

He said his views on legalized marijuana and gun laws have changed through the years, but his passion for politics has not.

He urged the students to participate however they could.

“It doesn’t matter which side you support,” he said. “You need to recognize that neither party has a monopoly on truth or patriotism.”

Sen. Mark Warner has reintroduced election reform legislation aimed at making it easier and faster to vote.

Warner, joined by fellow senators Chris Coons, D-Del., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is trying again with a bill filed shortly after the November election. The old Congress didn’t act on the bill before it adjourned.

“The extremely long lines and wait times that many Virginia voters experienced at the polls last November were unacceptable,” Warner said, adding that he was disappointed the state legislature did not act on similar reforms last week.

His bill would allow for same-day registration, no-excuse absentee voting, and early voting on at least nine days before Election Day. In addition, it would provide voting help for people in the military, people with disabilities and those whose first language is not English.

– David Ress

ATHENS — U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss said Monday that it was the prospect of eight more years of “ugly” governance — not fear of losing a Republican primary — that fueled last week’s announcement that he would not seek a third term in 2014.

“That’s just not what I want to be involved in for the next two years and six years after that,” Chambliss told reporters after his first public appearance since deciding to retire. Georgia’s senior senator also said he would not involve himself in a GOP primary to pick his successor.

”That list is going to be so long. Folks who are interested in this job — they need to follow me for a couple weeks before they make their decision. It is not an easy life,” he said.

By a coincidence of timing, the long-scheduled event required Chambliss to introduce his partner in the “Gang of Six” negotiations over reducing the nation’s $17 trillion debt — U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia.

Warner had planned a detailed PowerPoint presentation. Instead, the morning event became a celebration of the bipartisan partnership that fueled tea party hostility toward Chambliss in Georgia and guaranteed him a primary challenge next year.

Warner, a former governor of Virginia who himself has not decided whether to seek re-election to the Senate in 2014, lavished praise on Chambliss for the risk he took.

“There was no rational, political upside for a safe, sitting Republican senator from a state like Georgia to be willing to step up with a Democrat and say, ‘We need to go out and tell the truth,’ ” Warner said. “It’s going to be Georgia’s loss, and it’s going to be America’s loss.”

“But that doesn’t mean we don’t have two more years to kick some tail up in Washington,” he added.
Chambliss set a tighter deadline, declaring that a deal to reform the U.S. tax code, increase federal revenue, yet cut spending and entitlements, needs to be passed before the start of the 2014 election season. “We’ve got a window of 11 months here,” Chambliss said.

Chambliss and Warner provided glimpses into the 3-year-old, odd-couple partnership that has seen both men battle their separate political bases and their leadership. “I have spent more time with [Warner] over the last two years than I have with my wife,” Chambliss quipped.

Chambliss credited his Virginia colleague with providing support in the face of bitter opposition among some factions of the GOP. “When you’re a Republican and you have a Democrat come over and say, ‘Hey, things are going to get better’ — that’s what public service is all about,” he said.

Warner, the co-founder of the cellphone company that became known as Nextel, acknowledged that he has been the more boisterous member of the duo. “Saxby and I are two very different people. He’s the epitome of the Southern gentleman — courtly, calm, relaxed. The way he starts each day is, ‘Well, Mark, did you take your Ritalin today?’ ”

Both men expressed frustration that their joint activity has become something seldom seen in Washington. “It shouldn’t be that much of a rarity that a Democrat and a Republican, who have big issues on a lot of other issues, can come together for the good of the country,” said Warner, who told students in the audience that bipartisanship needs to be encouraged from the ground up.

“If you’re a Democrat, go support a Republican who’s willing to [increase] revenue,” Warner said. “If you’re a Republican, go support a Democrat who’s willing to [trim] entitlements.”

The lecture was sponsored by Keith Mason, the former chief of staff of Gov. Zell Miller — who, when he served in the Senate, expressed similar frustrations with Congress. Afterward, a question-and-answer session with reporters was preceded by a series of local officials who praised Chambliss. “Realistic” was the most common adjective.

Chambliss acknowledged the shower of accolades with a thank-you and a wince. “This is not a funeral, now, guys,” he said.

The Georgia senator said that, though freed from any electoral pressure, he would not change his message over the next two years. ”I think it may surprise some people, particularly my critics, to know that I’m not going to change my principles, I’m not going to change my philosophy,” he said. “Now that I’m not running, I’m going to say exactly the same thing on fiscal issues I’ve been saying for 2 1/2 years.”

Chambliss said his decision to retire wasn’t based on any fear of 2014. “The one thing I was totally confident of was my re-election. This was not a two-year decision for me,” he said. “I raised $13 million for the election in 2008. I was going to have to raise more than that this time around. I knew that I’d be able to do it.”

But dissatisfaction began to brew inside him after the 2011 fight over the debt ceiling — which produced the “fiscal cliff” deal that required Congress to come to terms with the debt or face automatic spending cuts and tax increases. One was “ugly,” Chambliss said. The deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, reached only on Jan. 1, was “really ugly.”

“It was not a lot of fun to go through, and I did not think it was the way to govern,” he said. “I can see that the next six months of this year is going to be the same sort of political arena.”

Chambliss, 69, said he had no stomach for enduring that kind of frustration until 2020.