STAUNTON — Federal lawmakers need to keep their commitment to education without loading too much debt onto the young people whose education it funds, U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., told Mary Baldwin College students Friday.

The former governor was on campus to get an update on school projects before addressing a group of Mary Baldwin students and answering questions.

Warner asked how many of the 40-or-so students inside the college administration building received federal Pell Grants to help pay for their schooling. Most raised their hands.

The challenge for bringing the federal budget closer into balance is to make the decisions needed without sacrificing important programs like higher education grants.

“If we’re gonna get this fixed, we’ve gotta make sure we maintain Pell Grants,” Warner said. “We’ve got to make sure sure we continue to invest in research and development; we’ve gotta make sure we’re gonna continue to build roads.”

Nevertheless, bringing down annual budget deficits and paying down the national debt that’s built up over the years from all that borrowing will be one of Congress’ highest priorities the next term, Warner said.

He met privately with Mary Baldwin President Pamela Fox to learn the progress for plans on the health sciences center the school will build in Fishersville near Augusta Health.

Warner addressed the students afterward outside Fox’s office.

He’s been meeting with a group of Republican and Democratic senators this week on a deal to trim $4 trillion in federal spending and avoid automatic spending cuts and tax hikes set to take place at the end of the year if there’s no new budget agreement, Warner told students.

The latest edition of the senatorial budget negotiating “gang,” which now numbers eight, is outlining a deal that could get tax-and-spending talks going regardless of who wins, he said.

“How do you cut some of the spending? How do you raise some more money,” Warner said. “How do we try to get ourselves back in a way so that we don’t turn over the keys to you guys in a country that’s not in good fiscal shape, or turn over the keys with you having a big bill.”

Both parties are to blame for running up the debt, and bringing it down will require a compromise balance of cuts and new tax revenues, he said.

The current political environment makes coming up with a deal before Election Day just about impossible, he said at a press briefing later.

A number of students who listened were part of the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership, Mary Baldwin’s military-style education program. When one of them asked about helping sailors and soldiers who might lose their jobs due to cuts in military spending, the senator told her the veterans’ unemployment rate is “embarrassing.”

One measure Congress is considering would make technical training in the military the certified equivalent for civilian jobs, Warner said.

“One of the things we’re trying to work on now is making sure that if you’re learning a skill in the military, and you get certified in the military, you get certified for civilian use as well,” he said.

When a student asked for advice entering the work world, he encouraged them to take risks.

He recalled that nearly all in the group had raised their hands when he asked how many relied on student loans. “Candidly, you’re already in debt,” he said. The best time to try running a businesses is when they’re young, he told them.

Christina Leyton, an MBC senior and VWIL cadet, appreciated Warner’s centrist political and civic emphasis.

“I am kind of in the middle right now,” Leyton said of her position for the upcoming elections. “Just hearing that he’s kind of like the same way – you can’t always pick one side, or pick another. Just listen to both sides and be open. That was really great.”

At the press conference, Warner wouldn’t reveal specifics of the deal the “Gang of Eight” is hammering out, but said that the framework is the same as the one used for previous Congressional proposals.

“Everybody kind of knows what the menu looks like. We just have to go ahead a make some choices,” he said.

And lawmakers shouldn’t just delay a decision to ward of the scheduled, automatic budget sequestrations that economists believe would put the national economy back into recession.

The markets wouldn’t react well to such a delay, Warner said.

The fortunes of former Gov. Timothy Kaine (D) in his U.S. Senate bid against Republican former Gov. George Allen will hinge on the polling for President Barack Obama’s re-election bid, said Warner, who has campaigned for Kaine.

Next week’s presidential debate will play an important role, he added.