The FBI’s new headquarters should be in Springfield

by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Sen. Mark R. Warner & Sen. Tim Kaine

in the Washington Post

March 17, 2023

Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, is the governor of Virginia. Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner, both Democrats, represent Virginia in the Senate. 

Virginia made its case to federal officials last week for Springfield to be the next home of the FBI. Though we come from different political parties, we are in lockstep on this issue. Politics should play no role when it comes to the security of the American people.

The FBI and the General Services Administration have laid out a specific set of five criteria for determining where the new FBI headquarters should go. We believe strongly that Springfield is the clear winner across the board.

Northern Virginia is home to a majority of the nation’s intelligence workforce and the largest population of cybersecurity companies and personnel on the East Coast — more than double the number in Maryland. During our presentation to the GSA, Adam Lee, a retired 22-year veteran of the FBI, shared his firsthand experience of how the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, forced the bureau to work more closely with its sister intelligence agencies. With increasing collaboration needed to respond to national security threats rapidly, the Springfield site, situated near the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is the premier site candidate.

Of the sites under consideration, Springfield is also the closest to the FBI’s Quantico location. This is significant because the FBI has said that proximity to this facility’s training academy and laboratory is critical for the bureau to meet its mission. According to the bureau’s own figures, over just a two-month period last summer, FBI personnel made about 1,700 trips to Quantico. This number doesn’t include the personnel who work at Quantico who made reverse trips to the current headquarters downtown or to one of the FBI’s other locations in the area. That’s thousands of person hours spent traveling between locations, making it easy to understand why proximity to Quantico is so important to the FBI.

Springfield also provides more travel choices and public transportation options than any other site under consideration. Though both Springfield and the Greenbelt site in Maryland are less than a 10-minute walk to Metro and commuter trains, the Springfield site provides roughly double the number of bus routes. Maryland has not made major improvements to its Beltway system in decades and just lost its partner in the effort to add express lanes to Interstate 270; Northern Virginia has already rebuilt its interstate network, investing more than $15 billion in these critical arteries.

As the only site under consideration already owned by the federal government, the Springfield site would cost less than the competitor sites in Maryland.

A more recent criterion includes advancing support for underserved communities. We applaud and embrace that objective.

As one of the most diverse communities in America, Northern Virginia has a lot to offer here, too. More than half of Springfield’s households speak a language other than English. Recruiting a diverse workforce helps the FBI better fulfill its national security mission: Officers from diverse backgrounds are uniquely qualified to understand cultural differences and bring diverse viewpoints to the many security challenges facing Americans.

Though Northern Virginia is often painted with a broad brush, tens of thousands of people in the area live below the federal poverty level, and tens of thousands of people still lack health insurance or a high school diploma.

By selecting Springfield, the administration would fulfill its commitment to advance diversity and economic opportunity.

We are confident that any objective evaluation of the transparent criteria laid out by the FBI and the GSA can lead to only one conclusion: The best home for the FBI is in Virginia.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) led a bipartisan group of senators in urging the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to reevaluate the risks associated with the use of drones manufactured by Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. (DJI), a company with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In 2022, DJI was officially identified as a “Chinese military company” by the Department of Defense following several warnings about its risks, including a 2017 intelligence bulletin warning that DJI was likely providing sensitive U.S. infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government. Despite this action, the use of DJI drones remains common throughout the country.  In 2021, it was reported that DJI controlled almost 90% of the consumer drone market in North America and over 70% of the industrial market. And in 2019, it was reported that 73% of public safety organizations are flying the company’s aircrafts.

“[T]he widespread use of DJI drones to inspect critical infrastructure allows the CCP to develop a richly detailed, regularly updated picture of our nation’s pipelines, railways, power generation facilities, and waterways,” the senators wrote in a letter to CISA Director Jen Easterly. “This sensitive information on the layout, operation, and maintenance of U.S. critical infrastructure could better enable targeting efforts in the event of conflict.”

CISA has previously taken action to warn against the purchase and use of DJI aircrafts. In 2019, CISA published an “industry alert” underscoring the federal government’s “strong concerns” with Chinese drones and warning entities to be “cautious” in purchasing them. However, since this alert more information regarding the severity of the threat has come to light, and the senators are asking for a complete analysis of the security risks posed by DJI drones to be conducted and made publicly available.

In addition to Sens. Warner and Blackburn, the letter was signed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), John Thune (R-SD) Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Rick Scott (R-FL), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Todd Young (R-IN), JD Vance (R-OH), Ted Budd (R-NC), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Mike Braun (R-IN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Jerry Moran (R-KS).

Sen. Warner is a strong supporter of the domestic production of unmanned systems, including driverless cars, drones, and unmanned maritime vehicles. Earlier this year, he introduced the Increasing Competitiveness for American Drones Act, legislation that will clear the way for drones to be used for commercial transport of goods across the country. As Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he has led efforts in Congress to shore up U.S. national and cybersecurity against hostile foreign governments through unmanned air systems. Last month, Sen. Warner introduced legislation to prohibit the federal government from purchasing drones manufactured in countries identified as national security threats, such as the People’s Republic of China.

A copy of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Director Easterly:

We write today regarding the cybersecurity risks posed by the widespread use of drones manufactured by Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. (“DJI”) to operators of critical infrastructure and state and local law enforcement in the United States. In short, we believe that given the company’s identified connections to the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”), the use of its drones in such sensitive contexts may present an unacceptable security vulnerability. We ask that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) evaluate this concern and make the results of its evaluation available to the public through the National Cyber Awareness System.

China’s efforts to modernize the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army (“PLA”), including through their “Military-Civil Fusion” strategy – which systematically blurs the lines between PLA and civilian science and technology research and development efforts – are well documented. In October 2022, the Department of Defense identified DJI as a “Chinese military company” operating in the U.S. under Section 1260H of the William M. (“Mac”) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. Identification of this relationship between DJI and the PLA suggests a range of risks to U.S. operators of the technology, including that sensitive information or data could wind up in PLA hands. Indeed, Huawei, another entity identified under Section 1260H, has been credibly accused by the Department of Justice of misappropriating intellectual property and trade secret information from U.S. companies.

Yet, despite these risks, the use of DJI drones remains widespread throughout the U.S. In 2021, it was reported that DJI controlled almost 90% of the consumer market in North America and over 70% of the industrial market. And in 2019, it was reported that 73% of public safety operations are flown by the company’s aircraft. As a result, the CCP may have access to a variety of proprietary information. For example, a 2017 Department of Homeland Security assessment warned that Chinese companies had used grape production information gathered by a DJI drone purchased by a California wine producer to inform their own land purchasing decisions. Even worse, the widespread use of DJI drones to inspect critical infrastructure allows the CCP to develop a richly detailed, regularly updated picture of our nation’s pipelines, railways, power generation facilities, and waterways. This sensitive information on the layout, operation, and maintenance of U.S. critical infrastructure could better enable targeting efforts in the event of conflict.

We appreciate that CISA has addressed this risk in the past, most notably in a 2019 “Industry Alert,” stating the federal government’s “strong concerns” with Chinese drones and warning entities to be “cautious” in purchasing them. However, over the past four years more information regarding the scope of the problem has become available—including the official identification of DJI as a Chinese military company by the Department of Defense.

We therefore ask that CISA revisit its analysis of the security risks posed by the use of DJI-manufactured drones and release the results of that analysis publicly through the National Cyber Awareness System. 

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, released the following statement:

“After an unprecedented and reckless run on Silicon Valley Bank, there were very real risks of instability spreading to other institutions and undermining our national security and technology innovation ecosystem. The Federal Reserve, the FDIC and the Treasury Department have together acted as Congress intended when we wrote Dodd-Frank by acting swiftly and responsibly to protect depositors and make sure that our financial system remains stable, while at the same time making clear that bank shareholders and bondholders shouldn’t expect any kind of bailout by the taxpayers. Their quick action will help companies make payroll and preserve jobs all across the country.”

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WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) applauded $11,740,000 in federal funding to reclaim abandoned mine lands (AML) in Virginia – an effort that will strengthen coal communities by promoting economic opportunity and address hazards that threaten the long-term health and wellbeing of Virginians and their communities.

“This significant investment will support Virginia’s mining communities by creating good-paying jobs through repurposing abandoned, unsafe lands,” the Senators said.

Virginia has one of the highest number of high-priority AML problem sites in the United States. This funding will go towards closing dangerous, abandoned mine shafts, reclaiming unstable slopes, improving water quality, and restoring water supplies damaged by mining. The projects will eliminate dangerous environmental conditions and pollution caused by past coal mining, including by remediating abandoned mines that are leaking methane – a key contributor to climate change. Through these projects, hazardous lands can be reclaimed into recreational areas and targeted for other economic redevelopment uses like advanced manufacturing and renewable energy deployment.

This funding comes on top of over $22 million in fiscal year 2022 funding for Virginia’s AML cleanup efforts made available as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law negotiated by Sen. Warner and supported by Sen. Kaine.

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WASHINGTON – Today, Virginia’s Governor Glenn Youngkin, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, and U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott, Rob Wittman, Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer, Abigail Spanberger, Jennifer Wexton, Jen Kiggans, and Jennifer McClellan issued the following statement after Virginia leaders presented to the General Services Administration (GSA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the clear case for Springfield to host the FBI’s new headquarters:

"The selection process for a new FBI headquarters should be a straightforward assessment of five criteria identified by the experts at the FBI and the GSA. In today’s meeting, Virginia made the case that in all five criteria, Springfield, Virginia is the leading site under consideration. With its proximity to FBI Quantico and other key intelligence sites, it’s the optimal location to support the FBI mission. It has more public transportation options than any other site under consideration, as well as superior site development flexibility. Choosing Springfield would also represent a strong commitment to advancing equity in underserved communities. It would give taxpayers the best bang for the buck since it’s already federally-owned and built-ready. Springfield is a home run in every category.”

Last month, Youngkin, Warner, Kaine, Connolly, Beyer, and Spanberger held a press conference alongside local leaders in Springfield to highlight the ways in which it best meets the five selection criteria set forth by the GSA and FBI, which are: support for the FBI mission requirement; transportation access; site development flexibility; promoting sustainable siting and advancing equity; and cost. The press conference followed the submission of a letter by Virginia’s congressional delegation and Governor Youngkin to the GSA and FBI laying out the case for the Springfield site.

For high quality video of Warner and Kaine making the case for Springfield following today’s presentation, click here.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released the following statement today after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued new voluntary cybersecurity guidance for health care organizations looking to bolster their cybersecurity:

“As cyber criminals continue to target health systems in order to steal or hold for ransom the sensitive medical data of American patients and jeopardize the daily operations of health care providers, I am pleased to see the Department of Health and Human Services issue new voluntary guidance to bolster health care cybersecurity. I applaud the Health Sector Coordinating Council Cybersecurity Working Group for working to translate cyber practices into appropriate standards for providers in the health care space. I look forward to continuing to work with cyber experts, health stakeholders, and officials in the Biden Administration to determine which voluntary measures we need to start requiring to ensure patient safety.”  

Sen. Warner, co-chair of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus and a former technology entrepreneur, has long sounded the alarm about the importance of safeguarding our nation’s critical infrastructure – including our health care systems. In November, he authored and published a policy options paper outlining current cybersecurity threats facing health care providers and systems and offering for discussion a series of policy solutions to improve cybersecurity across the industry. 

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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine released the following statement ahead of the Senate vote on a resolution of disapproval regarding changes to DC’s criminal code:

“Both the city council chairman­—who has withdrawn the legislation—and the mayor have suggested that these changes to the DC criminal code are not ready for prime time. We will vote for the resolution of disapproval and urge the mayor and council to work together to create a safer city for all, including the many Virginians who commute to DC for work every day.”

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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), joined by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and John Fetterman (D-PA), urged the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate the adequacy of black lung benefits to meet the income and health care needs of disabled miners and their families. In a letter to Comptroller General of the United States Gene L. Dodaro, the Senators explained that the study is critical to informing policy aimed at helping coal miners and their families in the Appalachian region. 

“Many recipients of black lung benefits are living month-to-month on limited and fixed incomes,” the Senators wrote. “Though this has historically been true, many miners sick with black lung disease who are applying for benefits today are contracting the disease at a much earlier age. These benefits, therefore, are not just supplementing an early retirement—they are replacing an income for many years that may need to support children and a household, aging or sick parents, and college and retirement.”

Decades ago, Congress established the Black Lung Benefits Act in conjunction with the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 to provide monthly compensation and medical coverage for coal miners who develop black lung disease and are totally disabled as a result. However, many miners and their families have been subjected to drawn out legal challenges after being awarded black lung benefits. Frequently, these benefits are appealed by employers and, if the benefit determination is overturned, recipients must pay back the money. In some cases, these challenges have taken years to resolve, causing undue stress to families that rely on these benefits to survive.

The Senators continued, “We have also heard from miners’ attorneys that almost all of the miners and families that they represent raise the fear of repayment with them and it frequently deters these families from using any of their interim benefits that they desperately need, regardless of how strong their respective cases are because they cannot afford to take the risk of being forced to repay a large sum of money. Since these cases can last for so long, many miners die from black lung disease before they are able to confidently spend their benefits without fear of a future repayment.”’

To help ensure that adequate benefits are provided, the senators are requesting a study that answers the following questions:

1. What are the state and Federal disability benefits that coal miners and their families can receive as a result of black lung?
2. What challenges have miners and their families faced in obtaining black lung disability benefits, including but not limited to recoupment?
3. How do these benefits affect the health and financial well-being of miners and their families, and what, if any, changes are needed?

Last year, Sens. Warner, Kaine, Casey, Brown, and Manchin introduced The Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act, legislation to make needed updates to the Black Lung Benefits Act to ensure Congress is fulfilling its commitment to the nation’s coal miners. To help fulfill those promises, in August of 2022, Congress approved a permanent extension of the black lung excise tax to fund the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (BLDTF) that provides health insurance and a living stipend for those impacted by black lung as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

"The UMWA has been at the forefront of battling black lung disease for more than fifty years. Enacted by Congress in 1969 as part of the Federal Mine Health and Safety Act, the black lung benefits system has been helpful to thousands of miners and their families. But more needs to be done. The cost of living has dramatically increased since 1969, miners are contracting the disease at younger ages and there are more severe forms of the disease. This GAO study will bring important answers on how to improve the benefit system so that all miners and their families receive the benefits they deserve,” said Cecil E. Roberts, International President of the United Mine workers of America.

"The black lung benefits system was created over fifty years ago and since its creation has served as a lifeline for so many mining families," said Rebecca Shelton, Director of Policy for Appalachian Citizens' Law Center. "But a lot can change in fifty years. We know that the cost of living has increased, that more miners have severe forms of the disease, and that miners are getting sick at younger ages. This GAO study asks critical questions to determine whether the benefits system is still adequately serving families in spite of these and many other changes and will ensure that the benefits system continues to serve mining families as it was meant to."

“Miners disabled by black lung deserve more than what they are currently receiving — $738 per month even for those with total disability,” said Appalachian Voices Legislative Director Chelsea Barnes. “We believe this GAO study will show that black lung disability benefits should be significantly increased to meet the needs of miners who are no longer able to work and provide for their families as a result of this debilitating disease.”

A copy of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Comptroller General Dodaro,

Thank you for your continued partnership with Congress and the Federal government to help ensure government works effectively and efficiently for our constituents. We write to request that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct a study to evaluate the adequacy of black lung benefits to meet the living and health care needs of disabled miners and their families. We believe such a report is critical to informing policy aimed at helping coal miners and their families in the Appalachian region. 

Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, commonly known as black lung disease, is a fatal, incurable condition caused by long-term exposure to coal dust in and around coal mines. The U.S. Department of Labor has estimated that black lung has killed more than 76,000 people since 1968. However, the number of miners with black lung is likely much higher, given the difficulty in and hesitancy about getting diagnosed within mining communities.

In 1972, Congress passed the Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA) to provide monthly benefits to disabled miners and eligible surviving family members of coal miners whose deaths were due to black lung disease. Benefits are either paid for by the coal mining company or the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund but the claims process is arduous and often takes many years, even decades. Miners and their families or survivors apply for and rely on these benefits for health care and as a source of income once they are disabled. 

Currently, federal black lung benefit rates are set at 37.5% of the base salary federal employees in grade GS-2, step 1. These employees are on the second lowest pay grade for federal employees.  Therefore, a miner without any dependents or a survivor of a miner, for instance, receives approximately $4.24 per hour, $738 a month, or about $8,856 annually, even if they prove total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis. Considering that the federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour, disabled miners receive nearly half this amount in Black Lung disability benefits.

Anecdotally, we have learned that black lung benefits are a primary or sole source of income for many families. Many recipients of black lung benefits are living month-to-month on limited and fixed incomes. Though this has historically been true, many miners sick with black lung disease who are applying for benefits today are contracting the disease at a much earlier age. These benefits, therefore, are not just supplementing an early retirement—they are replacing an income for many years that may need to support children and a household, aging or sick parents, and college and retirement. We have also heard from miners’ attorneys that almost all of the miners and families that they represent raise the fear of repayment with them and it frequently deters these families from using any of their interim benefits that they desperately need, regardless of how strong their respective cases are because they cannot afford to take the risk of being forced to repay a large sum of money. Since these cases can last for so long, many miners die from black lung disease before they are able to confidently spend their benefits without fear of a future repayment.

The purpose of the Black Lung Benefits Act is to provide benefits, in cooperation with the States, to coal miners who are totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis and to the surviving dependents of miners whose death was due to such disease. To help ensure that adequate benefits are provided to coal miners and their dependents in the event of their death or total disability due to pneumoconiosis, we request a study that describes:

Ensuring that benefits are sufficient to meet the economic and health care needs of mining families has always been critical, and we appreciate your consideration of this request.

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WASHINGTON – Today, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) appeared on FOX News Sunday to discuss the how the U.S. needs to tackle rising threats posed by the Communist Party of China. 

On the how the United States needs to address the rise of the Chinese Communist Party on the world stage:

“We have never had a potential adversary like China. The Soviet Union, Russia, was military or ideological, China is investing in economic areas. They have $500 billion in intellectual property theft, and we are in a competition not just on a national security basis but on a technology basis. That's why national security now includes telecommunications, satellites, artificial intelligence, quantum computing. Each of these domains, we have got to make the kind of investments to stay ahead. I think we are starting that in a bipartisan way. We did the CHIPS bill to try to bring semiconductor manufacturing back, we have kicked out Huawei out of our telecom systems. This week, I have a broad bipartisan bill that I am launching with my friend John Thune, the Republican lead, where we are going to say, in terms of foreign technology coming into America, we’ve got to have a systemic approach to make sure we can ban or prohibit it when necessary.”

On the influence of TikTok:

“Listen, you have 100 million Americans on TikTok, 90 minutes a day…They are taking data from Americans, not keeping it safe, but what worries me more with TikTok is that this could be a propaganda tool. The kind of videos you see would promote ideological issues. If you look at what TikTok shows to the Chinese kids, which is all about science and engineering, versus what our kids see, there’s a radical difference.”

On China’s support for Putin’s war in Ukraine:

“…if China moves forward to support Russia in Ukraine, I can't understand some of my colleagues who are willing to say, ‘I don't really care about Ukraine, but I'm concerned about China.’ Well, China and Russia, these authoritarian regimes, are linked, and we have to make sure Putin is not successful in Ukraine and that Xi doesn't further his expansion plans around Taiwan.”

Video of Sen. Warner on FOX News Sunday can be found here. A transcript follows.

FOX News Sunday 

SHANNON BREAM: Joining is now, Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, welcome back. This week, you all have a hearing on worldwide threat assessments. You will have the DNI, the director of the CIA there. You have long been warning about China on multiple fronts. Do you think that we have lost valuable time in assessing the threat accurately? Will you talk about that this week?

SENATOR MARK WARNER: Well I think for a long time conventional wisdom was, the more you bring China into the world order, the more they’re going to change. That assumption was just plain wrong. China even changed their laws in 2016 to make it explicitly clear that every company in China, their first obligation is to the Communist Party. So we have never had a potential adversary like China. The Soviet Union, Russia, was military or ideological, China is investing in economic areas. They have $500 billion in intellectual property theft, and we are in a competition not just on a national security basis but on a technology basis. That's why national security now includes telecommunications, satellites, artificial intelligence, quantum computing. Each of these domains, we have got to make the kind of investments to stay ahead. I think we are starting that in a bipartisan way. We did the CHIPS bill to try to bring semiconductor manufacturing back, we have kicked out Huawei out of our telecom systems. This week, I have a broad bipartisan bill that I am launching with my friend John Thune, the Republican lead where we are going to say, in terms of foreign technology coming into America, we’ve got to have a systemic approach to make sure we can ban or prohibit it when necessary.

BREAM: Does that mean TikTok?

SEN. WARNER: That means TikTok is one of the potentials. Listen, you have 100 million Americans on TikTok, 90 minutes a day. Even you guys would like that kind of return, 90 minutes a day. They are taking data from Americans, not keeping it safe, but what worries me more with TikTok is that this could be a propaganda tool. The kind of videos you see would promote ideological issues. If you look at what TikTok shows to the Chinese kids, which is all about science and engineering, versus what our kids see, there’s a radical difference.

BREAM: We will watch that, because that's a bipartisan offering potentially this week. This past week we got information, it was revealed that both the Department of Energy and FBI believe that the origins of COVID were most likely a leak from the Wuhan Institute for Virology. This is something that early on this was called a conspiracy theory, you were racist if you talked about it. The Senate has actually unanimously passed a measure that would call on this administration to declassify information that we have about the origins. The White House won't say whether the president will veto it or not if it gets to his desk. Do Americans, worldwide, do people not have a right to see that information?

SEN. WARNER: Shannon, here is again an example of what we are dealing with, with the Communist Party in China. If this virus had originated virtually anywhere else, we would have had world scientists there. The Chinese Communist Party has been totally opaque about letting in outside scientists to figure this out. Now, you’ve still got of some parts of the intelligence community that think it originated in a wet market, others saying that it could have gotten out from a lab, although I would say that one entity says it came from one lab in Wuhan, another said from another. At the end of the day, we’ve got to keep looking and we've got to make sure, in terms of future pandemics, that we can have access to the source of where these diseases originate a lot earlier on in the system. We’re three and half later, we still don't have access to Wuhan.

BREAM: They're not going to cooperate with that, especially if they assess internally they were at fault. How do they pay for this? Now, billions probably trillions in damages and losses for people, millions and millions of lives. How do they pay?

SEN. WARNER: Well I think again, this is where we’ve got to have that united front of countries all around the world, that there has to be consequences. There has to be consequences potentially in terms of sanctions, it’s one of the reasons why, if China moves forward to support Russia in Ukraine, I can't understand some of my colleagues who are willing to say, “I don't really care about Ukraine, but I'm concerned about China.” Well, China and Russia, these authoritarian regimes, are linked, and we have to make sure Putin is not successful in Ukraine and that Xi doesn't further his expansion plans around Taiwan.

BREAM: Well, we know that even if they are not sending bullets over to Russia, they are buying up copious amounts of Russian oil. They are sending dual-use products that could actually be used on the battlefield. Xi doesn't seem very worried about the warnings from the U.S. at this point. They haven't even acknowledged or apologized for the balloon that went across America, we think capturing information as it went. It Xi afraid of this administration? To our warnings mean anything?

SEN. WARNER: Well I think Xi, as Putin thought, thought that with the invasion of the Ukraine, that the West would basically throw in the towel. The fact that we’ve not, the fact that you've got, for example, the German chancellor here just this past week, Germany’s dramatically increasing their defense budget. The fact that we've got nations like Finland and Sweden trying to join NATO. I think Putin made a major miscalculation and I do think Xi is watching the West stand up against Putin and is taking some lessons from that.

BREAM: You're just back from India, among many other countries you visited. They abstained from the U.N. vote that condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and called for an end to this. How important is it, a critical place like India, that they choose a side, and with the West?

SEN. WARNER: I think it’s time. Look, India is a great nation, as a matter of fact, I’m chair of the India Caucus, I'm a big supporter of India. India is now a major, major power. Fifth-largest economy in the world, and a place where remarkable things are happening. My message to the Indians has been, we understand that you have historic ties to Russia, and you still get a lot of your arms, but you cannot be a world leader, and attempt to be a moral world leader, without picking a side. And in this case, I think the younger Indians get that. Some of the older generation, I think we still have work to do.

BREAM: Okay, let's turn to continued funding for Ukraine. Another $400 million was announced on Friday. There are questions, there'll be more requests from Congress no doubt in the coming weeks about that. While there is strong support, here across the U.S. and across the West, the polls show that it's pulling back a little bit. Here's the reality from one analyst, “funding for the Ukrainian government has not demanded any tough bureaucratic trade-offs between funding priorities. It's not requiring bouncing needs for Ukraine against a domestic spending.” We’ve hit our ceiling, we have some kind of negotiation that’s got to happen very shortly. There are competing needs and they are very real, so where do we assess our financial commitment?

SEN. WARNER: Well Shannon, let's look at this. We have allocated $113 billion to Ukraine. We have actually only given them actually less than half of that, and on the military side, about $30 billion of roughly $60 billion. We’ve still got some runway to go there. But I think we need to keep that commitment, and the truth is the Russian army is being chewed up by the Ukrainians. We spent $800 billion a year on defense, in most of my lifetime to prevent Russia from exploiting that. We are having Ukrainians do that right now, in a sense, for us. I think we need to continue that. I think we will see the vast majority of members of Congress in both parties, there are some loudmouths on both sides that are pulling back, but if we are going to keep in this competition against Russia and China, Putin cannot be successful. At the same time, we have to realize as we look at China that national security is no longer simply tanks and trucks and guns and ships. It's also telecom and AI and quantum computing and advanced synthetic biology. We have to make investments in those domains, as well, which is both an economic investment and I believe, national security investment.

BREAM: Speaking of another national security interest, Iran, this report on their nuclear capabilities came out this week and it’s kind of getting lost in all the other foreign policy headlines, but basically what the International Atomic Energy Agency told us is that they have hit 84% as far as enriching uranium. They said that’s just short of the 90% that you would need for a weapon. Britain, France, and Germany say they want to censure Iran over this. The U.S. is kind of hesitant. The reporting is that the Biden administration doesn’t want to go there. Are we now then softer on Iran's new program then Europe?

SEN. WARNER: I do not believe that. We have made it explicitly clear – and I was just in Israel recently with a group of senators  – that we agree with Israel. Iran cannot be a nuclear power. I think, that has been our policy it will continue to be our policy. There are two steps in this process, one is the enrichment issue, and I believe we will be tougher than the Europeans. We always historically always have been –

BREAM: So then why are we against censuring, reportedly?

SEN. WARNER: We have already sanctioned and censured more Iranian companies by far than our European friends. But there is also a question around delivery systems. Again, I think we and our Israeli friends are following this very closely. Again, we will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power.

BREAM: I've got to hit this, Havana Syndrome. The reporting out this week, an assessment from several intelligence agencies that they don't think –  that it's unlikely there was a foreign adversary carrying out these attacks, whatever they were, where our people, diplomats or Intel officers around the world in U.S. missions have suffered really debilitating symptoms from this. Senator Rubio, your colleague tweeted this: “The CIA took the investigation of Havana syndrome seriously. But when you read about the devastating injuries it's hard to except that it was by AC units and loud cicadas. Something happened here and just because we don’t have all the answers doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.” Will you continue trying to pursue answers?

SEN. WARNER: Absolutely. First of all, the most important thing is anyone who got sick, whatever the source was, whether they are CIA, DoD, State Department officials, we owe them the world's best health care and I think we are providing that now. Initially frankly, under the last administration, this whole issue was attempted to be swept under the rug. We are now making sure that health care is provided. I know how, particularly the CIA, how extensive the investigation has been. And I've made very clear to them, if they need to continue that investigation, if new facts come to light, they ought to pursue that. But at this moment in time, I know how thorough they have been, and they have not found the evidence that I think perhaps they thought they would have found. We've got to follow the facts. At the end of the day that's what we owe the members of this intel community, who protect our nation, and that means giving them the health care. If it ends up sensing some other source then what has been discovered so far, we have to pursue it.

BREAM: Senator, Chairman, thanks for coming back to Fox News Sunday.

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) reintroduced legislation to protect federal workers and their families from foreclosures, evictions, and loan defaults during a government shutdown or debt default. The Federal Employee Civil Relief Act would enable government employees and contractors to postpone payment obligations during a shutdown or debt default and for 30 days afterward.

“During the government shutdown under President Trump, we spent lots of time with government employees who often broke down crying because they didn’t know how they were going to put food on the table or keep a roof over their family’s heads,” said the Senators. “Some people in Congress treat government shutdowns or the threat of a debt default like political games, but to federal workers and their families, the consequences can be grim and all too real. This legislation will help shield federal employees and their families from those in Congress who think it’s good politics to stop paying our bills by shutting down the government or defaulting on our debt.”

During the December 2018 government shutdown, many federal workers received a pay stub with zero dollars on it. This bill addresses the real threat of federal workers and contractors losing their homes, falling behind on student loans and other bills, having their car repossessed, or losing their health insurance because they have been furloughed during a shutdown or required to work without pay. The Federal Employee Civil Relief Act would protect impacted workers from:

• Being evicted or foreclosed;
• Having their car or other property repossessed;
• Falling behind in their student loan payments;
• Having negative effects on their credit history;
• Falling behind in paying their bills; or
• Losing their insurance because of missed premiums.

This protection would last during a shutdown and debt default and 30 days afterwards to give workers a chance to keep up with their bills and would enable these workers to apply to a court to temporarily postpone payment obligations or eviction or foreclosure actions.

During the longest government shutdown in U.S. history in 2019, Sens. Warner and Kaine took a series of actions to protect affected workers, including guaranteeing back pay for federal employees, urging back pay for contractors, introducing budget amendments to protect federal workers, and urging OPM to prevent the termination of dental and vision insurance for federal employees. During the shutdown, Sen. Kaine objected to the Senate going out of session, which resulted in him securing passage of legislation to guarantee back pay for federal employees. He has also introduced legislation that would end Congress’ abuse of the debt ceiling and prevent a debt default by allowing the President to raise the debt ceiling subject to a congressional override.

In addition to Sens. Warner and Kaine, the Federal Employee Civil Relief Act is sponsored by U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

This legislation is supported by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), Federal Managers Association (FMA), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), and National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released the following statement on the President’s National Cyber Strategy:

“I’m pleased to see the Biden Administration advocating for the kind of best practices that I’ve long called for, such as building and reinforcing strong partnerships with the private sector, investing in the long-term protection of our nation’s critical infrastructure, being proactive about establishing strong cybersecurity foundations and meeting critical standards. I’m particularly pleased to see the Administration prioritize the coordination of cyber incident reporting requirements, as required by the cyber reporting law I was proud to author. I’m also glad to see the Administration’s renewed focus on protecting the sensitive medical data and safety of Americans as cyber attacks on our health care systems become more frequent and aggressive.”

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today released the following statement on a new proposed rule by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) governing the use of telemedicine to prescribe controlled substances:

“Given the dramatic shortage of mental health providers nationwide, expanded access to prescribers through telehealth is key to making sure that patients can continue getting their medications, including those that treat opioid use disorder, as they have for the past three years. More than half of U.S. counties don’t have a single psychiatrist. While folks once had to take time off work, commute to a medical facility, and sit in a waiting room, they now can get in front of a prescriber quickly, from nearly any location, and through a single click thanks to pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities.

“Unfortunately, despite what Congress has been directing it to do since 2008, the rule proposed by the DEA once again neglects to set up a special registration allowing specially certified and trained prescribers to continue to safely prescribe controlled substances virtually without requiring an in-person visit. I worry that this rule, as written, overlooks the key benefits and lessons learned during the pandemic, and could counterproductively exacerbate the opioid crisis and encourage more risky behavior by pushing patients to seek dangerous alternatives to proper health care, such as self-medicating, if they cannot access an in-person appointment with a specialized provider.”

During COVID-19, patients widely adopted telepsychiatry as a convenient and accessible way to get psychiatric care remotely. This was made possible by the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, which allowed for a number of flexibilities, including utilizing an exception to the in-person medical evaluation requirement under the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act, legislation regulating the online prescription of controlled substances. With the Public Health Emergency set to expire, patients will soon lose the ability to reap the benefits of a mature telehealth system whose responsible providers know how to take care of their patients remotely when appropriate.  

Since 2008, Congress has directed the DEA to set up a special registration process, another exception process under the Ryan Haight Act, that would open up the door for quality health care providers to evaluate a patient and prescribe these medications over telehealth safely, as they’ve done during the pandemic. This special registration process has yet to be established, and DEA wrote they believe this proposed rule fulfills those Congressional mandates, despite not proposing such a registration.

Sen. Warner, a former tech entrepreneur, has been a longtime advocate for increased access to telehealth. He is an original cosponsor of the CONNECT for Health Act, which would expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare, make COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities permanent, improve health outcomes, and make it easier for patients to safely connect with their doctors. He previously wrote to both the Biden and Trump administrations, urging the DEA to finalize regulations long-delayed by prior administrations allowing doctors to prescribe controlled substances through telehealth. Sen. Warner also sent a letter to Senate leadership during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, calling for the permanent expansion of access to telehealth services.

In 2018, Sen. Warner included a provision to expand financial coverage for virtual substance use treatment in the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018. In 2003, then-Gov. Warner expanded Medicaid coverage for telemedicine statewide, including evaluation and management visits, a range of individual psychotherapies, the full range of consultations, and some clinical services, including in cardiology and obstetrics. Coverage was also expanded to include non-physician providers. Among other benefits, the telehealth expansion allowed individuals in medically underserved and remote areas of Virginia to access quality specialty care that isn’t always available at home.

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