WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) released the following statement after President Donald Trump released his Fiscal Year 2026 discretionary budget request to Congress:

“The budget the President released today reflects what we’ve seen over the past 103 days—that the Trump Administration is laser-focused on taking a chainsaw to important government programs that Americans rely on so that they can cut taxes for billionaires. This cruel budget would cut critical funding for education, such as Federal Work Study; substance use disorder prevention; rural development; housing; support for small businesses; research into cancer and other diseases; cybersecurity; foreign assistance; violence prevention, including Jabara-Heyer NO Hate grants; and more. It would also roll back funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other historic legislation that we were proud to help pass in Congress. As Congress continues negotiating a budget in the coming months, we are committed to pushing back against these massive cuts that will harm Virginians and our economy and make communities less safe.”   

###

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) and U.S. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA-11) released the following statement regarding President Donald Trump’s move to revive ‘Schedule F,’ a policy he pursued during his first term to strip protections from federal workers to make it easier to carry out politically motivated firings. The Biden Administration reversed the Executive Order that created Schedule F and also finalized a regulation strengthening protections for the civil service.

“Anyone who cares about our national security, or receives Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or any other critical service administered by the federal government, has a vested interest in protecting our merit-based federal workforce. President Trump has made it clear that he wants the power to hire and fire these workers based on their politics, not their qualifications—and that makes all of us less safe. We have long fought for legislation to protect the federal workforce from this kind of attack. To our colleagues who will hear from their constituents if government services continue to decline because of this decision: you were warned.”

The lawmakers previously introduced the Saving the Civil Service Act, legislation that would prevent any position in the competitive service from being reclassified to Schedule F.

###

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) issued the following statement regarding an incident at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) where two airplanes bumped into each other on the tarmac:

“Thank God no one was hurt this time. We need a full investigation into this incident as soon as possible. We have said this over and over and hate having to say it again: when planes are taking off and landing every minute of the day, FAA funding is cut, air traffic controllers are fired, and current staff is spread thinner to cover more—that is when mistakes happen. The traveling public deserves action.”

###

 WASHINGTON – Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the following statement on General Tim Haugh, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service:

“General Haugh has served our country in uniform, with honor and distinction, for more than 30 years. At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyber threats, as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China has so clearly underscored, how does firing him make Americans any safer?

“It is astonishing, too, that President Trump would fire the nonpartisan, experienced leader of the National Security Agency while still failing to hold any member of his team accountable for leaking classified information on a commercial messaging app – even as he apparently takes staffing direction on national security from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office.”

###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) issued a statement in response to President Trump’s latest attack on the federal workforce – an executive order targeting collective bargaining rights:

“This is just another attempt by President Trump to ‘traumatize’ and illegally fire federal workers. Collective bargaining makes the federal workforce stronger, and undermining these rights does nothing to improve our national security. In fact, this order will only make us less safe, as this executive order is only Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s latest gambit to make it easier to fire the people who ensure public safety, prepare for pandemics, respond to natural disasters, and much, much more. This political attack on our civil servants must not stand.”  

 ###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) issued the following statement:

“While the government will remain open, we are frustrated that this funding bill gives a blank check to Donald Trump and Elon Musk to continue attacking the federal workforce and dismantling the services Virginians rely on. This bill lacks the meaningful proposals we offered as amendments to rein in and defund DOGE and protect our veterans from being indiscriminately fired – because Republicans blocked them all. As Donald Trump and Elon Musk continue to seek giant tax cuts for billionaires while laying off workers, slashing services, and tanking our economy, we will keep standing up for everyday Virginians, who have had enough of this chaos and lawlessness. That means we are already gearing up for our next fight: forcing a Senate vote on our legislation to challenge Trump’s senseless trade war with Canada, which will only raise costs for Virginians.”  

###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) issued the statement below on the Trump tariffs that went into effect today. These 25 percent tariffs will target foreign steel and aluminum, triggering additional tariffs and retaliatory fees and hurting consumers.

“Let’s be clear, today’s action by the Trump administration to levy a 25 percent tax on the importation of all steel and aluminum into the U.S. will jack up costs for consumers and small businesses across the Commonwealth and the nation. These tariffs will significantly increase input costs for small businesses, put homeownership further out of reach for Virginians, and threaten good-paying manufacturing jobs across America. They will also endanger the Commonwealth’s greatest economic engine – the Port of Virginia – by targeting commerce and potentially threatening activity at the port. Americans don’t want a reckless and misguided trade war. I’m going to keep working to lower prices for families and fighting to ensure we don’t turn our back on our allies.”

###

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the following statement on Trump administration’s short-sighted plan to slash over 80,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs:

“Our nation’s veterans have served our country valiantly and we owe it to them to take care of them when they come home. The Department of Veterans Affairs serves nearly 10 million veterans nationwide providing quality health care, disability services, and financial and career counseling. In recent years, with legislation like the PACT Act, we have made significant improvements to delivering quality care to these heroes. This move by the Trump administration would completely erase that progress. Eliminating over 80,000 jobs would not only decimate our workforce, but would hurt the veterans who too often struggle to access the benefits they have earned. To put it simply: our veterans deserve better, and I’m going to fight this move tooth and nail.”

###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released a statement after President Trump enacted a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, jacking up costs for American families:

“President Trump's reckless tariffs on our neighbors in Canada and Mexico are nothing more than a tax on American families. At a time when Virginians are already struggling with the cost of living, President Trump’s irrational tariffs on our allies will raise prices on everything from groceries to cars to houses, and they will kill American jobs. President Trump was elected on a promise to bring down rising prices, but these tariffs do the opposite.”

###

WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the following statement:

“Ukraine has been bravely fending off Vladimir Putin’s cruel and unjust invasion for over three years. U.S. assistance – supported by Congress on a bipartisan basis – has helped Ukraine resist and hold its ground against a Russian army that was supposed to take Kyiv in weeks or even days. Now President Trump threatens those hard-fought gains and imperils the lives of the Ukrainian people by unilaterally cutting off the aid that has helped Ukraine maintain its freedom in the face of aggression. Cutting off arms now only undermines the prospect of a peace deal that depends on Ukraine’s ability to negotiate from a position of strength. I call on President Trump to reverse this short-sighted decision, which weakens the United States’ credibility on the global stage.”

###

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement:

“Earlier today, my office finally received a copy of the order that was sent on Friday by the acting head of the Department of Justice to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ordering that several of the most experienced and senior officials at the Bureau be terminated.

“We need to be clear about why this matters. I am going to start by sharing a little bit about some of the individuals who were fired, and how they served our country.

“At a time when we are facing threats to the homeland from ISIS and ISIS-inspired terrorists, the president fired the Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division. Bobby Wells began his career as an FBI special agent in 2003, and there are Americans who are alive today because he helped catch terrorists before they had a chance to carry out their plans to attack inside the United States.

“While more than 100,000 Americans die every year due to drug overdoses, the president fired the Assistant Director of the FBI's the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, which, among other myriad responsibilities, puts criminal organizations and drug traffickers behind bars. Michael Nordwall began his career with the FBI as a special agent in 2002, and he has worked at field offices in Phoenix, Tampa, Denver, Pittsburgh, as well as at FBI headquarters, investigating some of the most dangerous criminals in the United States and making sure that they face justice.

“As we face espionage and counterintelligence threats from China, Russia, and other adversaries, the president fired the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Intelligence Branch. Ryan Young joined the FBI as a special agent in 2001, working counterintelligence cases out of Miami. In 2014, he moved to counterterrorism and established the Syria-Iraq Task Force to counter the threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and has also worked in Dallas and Los Angeles, managing crises and counterterrorism investigations.

“While new technologies are transforming crimefighting and our national security, the president fired the Assistant Director of the Science and Technology Branch. Jacqueline Maguire joined the FBI as a special agent in 2000. Among her other notable achievements, she was the lead agent for the investigation of the five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77 after the 9/11 terror attacks.

“As the FBI builds a workforce to manage the threats of today and tomorrow and keep adversaries like China from penetrating our secrets, the president fired the Assistant Director of the Human Resources Branch. Timothy Dunham joined the FBI as a special agent in 2002, and has overseen matters relating to counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and transnational organized crime.

“The president fired the head of the Miami field office, which oversees crimefighting in nine busy counties in South Florida, including the president’s home in Palm Beach County, as well as extraterritorial violations of American citizens in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Jeffrey Veltri joined the FBI as a special agent in 2002, working on matters from health care fraud to terrorism. He also deployed to Iraq, where he supported the prosecution of Saddam Hussein.

“In the memo, the acting director of the FBI was also ordered to fire the head of the Washington Field Office, one of the most important field positions in the entire FBI, with jurisdiction over federal crimes in and around Washington, D.C. David Sundberg joined the FBI in 2002 as a special agent, and, among other stops in a distinguished career, served as a leader on the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team.

“These are people who have served our country, protected Americans, and put criminals behind bars. Now they have been pushed out simply for doing their jobs.

“As we deal with a myriad of threats – to our homeland, to our cyber networks, to our economic competitiveness – this blatant abuse of power is making us all less safe.”

###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) issued the following statement on the passing of Henry Marsh III:

“It is with a heavy heart that Lisa and I join the Commonwealth and the nation in mourning the passing of Henry Marsh III, a true giant of the civil rights movement and a tireless champion for justice and equality.

“From his pivotal role in desegregating Virginia’s public schools to his years of service on the Richmond City Council, as the first Black Mayor of Richmond, in the Virginia Senate, and as Commissioner of the Virginia Department of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, Henry Marsh’s legacy is one of courage, integrity, and relentless pursuit of justice. Lisa and Henry worked closely together to commission the statue depicting Barbara Johns on Capitol Square – honoring at the seat of our government a pivotal figure and moment in the struggle for civil rights in Virginia.

“Henry taught us all that the fight for civil rights is never truly over – that it is one of constant effort, requiring us to stay vigilant and engaged. As we remember Henry’s remarkable life, let us also rededicate ourselves to carrying forward the cause for which he dedicated so much of his own. My deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, and all those who were blessed to know him.”

###