Press Releases

“I applaud the President’s choice of Robert McDonald to serve as Secretary of Veterans Affairs,” Sen. Warner said. “His military service and private sector management experience will help spur a much-needed and dramatic overhaul at the V-A health system."

"It is an outrage that while Virginia veterans were suffering because of gross mismanagement by the V-A, its senior executives were receiving cash performance bonuses on top of existing salaries."

Senators Warner and Kaine sent letter to Fernando O. Rivera, Network Director of the Veterans Affairs (VA) Capitol Health Care Network, and Daniel F. Hoffman, Network Director of the VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network, expressing concern over the results of the VA Access Audit report released this week.

The U.S. Senate today passed Sen. Warner’s bipartisan proposal to enlist private sector technology companies to assist the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (V-A) assess and fix problems with the V-A scheduling system.

On the 70th anniversary of D-Day, we honor the service and sacrifice of our incredible World War II heroes.

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of nine U.S. Senators called on the Obama Administration today to accept private sector assistance in fixing the broken Department of Veterans Affairs (V-A) scheduling system. In a letter, Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Al Franken (D-MN), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), and Michael Bennet (D-CO), urged the V-A to follow the example of the Army, which in 2010 allowed a consortium of leading technology companies to provide expertise in designing a corrective plan, at no cost to the taxpayers, to fix widespread data management issues uncovered at the Army’s Arlington National Cemetery.

“Because of the immediacy of the many challenges at the VA, we urge you to work with us to implement a similar cost-effective, private sector initiative so we can begin restoring the trust of our veterans and the American public in the ability of the VA to meet the commitments our nation has made to our veterans. Our military men and women, their families, and our veterans deserve nothing less.”

“Engaging the tech sector and the best minds from leading American IT firms produced a comprehensive business plan to help the Army modernize its workflow procedures and upgrade the data management systems at Arlington. That effort, conducted at no cost to the taxpayers, represented the very best traditions of corporate citizenship,” the senators wrote.

Full text of the letter is below, and a PDF of the signed letter can be accessed here.

060514 VA Letter by Mark Warner

“I honor General Shinseki's military and civilian service, and support his decision to step aside to allow new leadership at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Now we can place our focus where it rightly belongs: fixing the problems.”

Senator Warner today joined the national director of AmeriCorps in announcing $3.5 million in AmeriCorps funding to four Virginia organizations.

In a letter today, Sen. Warner called on the U.S. Veterans Administration (V-A) to immediately improve delays in diagnosis and treatment at its V-A hospitals. A recent V-A report on consult delays since 1999 showed that 23 veterans across the nation have died as a result of delays in receiving certain medical treatments.

Sen. Warner, who has championed the College of William and Mary’s Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic for three years, highlighted its extraordinary success today at the clinic’s first National Conference On Law Clinics Serving Veterans.

I deeply respect the considerable efforts by both Sens. McCaskill and Gillibrand to work to improve the way our military responds to cases of assault and sexual misconduct. This is a serious problem which requires serious debate and I have spent several months speaking with a variety of victims, legal experts, Pentagon officials, and others, as well as Sens. Gillibrand and McCaskill.

Sens. Warner and Chambliss(R-GA)introduced bipartisan legislation to prohibit the Pentagon’s proposed funding cut for military commissaries in the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget.

Senators Warner and Kaine joined 19 Senators and 30 Representatives to send the following letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel regarding a change to TRICARE's reimbursement policy.

Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine today introduced an amendment to the Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act that would find alternative savings through closure of an offshore tax loophole to replace the cost of living adjustment (COLA) reduction for military retirees.

U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today cosponsored SB 1174 awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry Regiment, or “Borinqueneers,” a unit comprised of soldiers from Puerto Rico that was the U.S. military’s last Hispanic segregated unit. The legislation currently has 30 Senate sponsors: 20 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

Mark Warner and Tim Kaine today introduced an amendment to emergency unemployment legislation that would repeal and replace the $6 billion cut to military pensions included in the Bipartisan Budget Act.

A same-sex couple’s inability to get a veterans’ home loan in Virginia has prompted U.S. Sen. Mark Warner to ask the Obama Administration to move more quickly to eliminate discrimination in federal programs.

Sen. Warner, a member of the House-Senate Budget Conference Committee, made the following comments in a floor speech prior to this afternoon’s Senate passage of the Bipartisan Budget Agreement, which the Senator supported.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today introduced legislation to repeal and replace the proposed $6 billion cut to military pensions included in the Bipartisan Budget Act.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) issued a statement marking today’s twelfth anniversary of 9/11.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today joined U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki in announcing that William & Mary Law School’s Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic has been certified as a national “best practice” program, with a VA-approved, expedited process for submission of disability claims. The Puller Clinic is the first law school clinic in the nation to receive the VA designation.

U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA) read messages on the Senate floor today from several Virginia constituents impacted by sequester cuts and federal employee furloughs, and urged his colleagues to work together to resolve a budget impasse before the fiscal year ends on September 30th.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today chaired a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the impact of sequester spending cuts on national security and the U.S. economy. Sen. Warner, who describes sequestration as “stupidity on steroids,” sought to highlight the disruptive and inefficient impact sequestration is having on small businesses that work with the Department of Defense.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today applauded the TRICARE military health insurance program for clarifying a controversial change in behavioral health care coverage for families with children who have developmental disabilities, including autism.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) has introduced legislation to strengthen existing military whistleblower protection laws to ensure that victims of sexual assault and other misconduct are protected from retaliation after they report the alleged offenses. The Military Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2013 improves overall protections for military men and women who report any type of misconduct, requiring timelier investigations by the inspector general

Press Releases

~ Urges Expansion of Va. Pro Bono Public-Private Partnerships to Address Key V-A Challenges ~

Jun 30 2014

Jun 20 2014

Jun 13 2014

~ Measure passes as part of bipartisan Senate legislation to fix V-A ~ ~ Warner proposal modeled on successful work to fix back office mess at Arlington National Cemetery ~

Jun 11 2014

Jun 06 2014

~ In letter to President Obama, Senators urge top-level private sector review of V-A systems ~

Jun 05 2014

May 30 2014

~ Grants will support at-risk students, veterans and their families ~

May 06 2014

~ Hampton’s V-A Medical Center third worst in the nation ~

May 02 2014

~ Puller Clinic has been certified by the V-A as national “best practice” program ~ ~ W&M law students help veterans access their benefits ~

Apr 03 2014

Mar 05 2014

~ Legislation prohibits cuts to commissaries until nonpartisan review issues recommendations in 2015 ~

Mar 05 2014

Mar 04 2014

Feb 11 2014

Awards Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry Regiment of Puerto Rico

Feb 05 2014

Jan 08 2014

~ Urges President to Immediately Stop Discriminatory Practices ~

Jan 03 2014

Dec 18 2013

Will repeal and replace proposed cuts to military retiree benefits

Dec 17 2013

Sep 11 2013

~ First law school clinic in the country to be certified as a national “best practice” ~

Aug 21 2013

Reads messages from constituents who are impacted, calls on Congressional colleagues to compromise

Jul 25 2013

Va. Senator chairs Budget Committee hearing on impact of sequester cuts

Jul 23 2013

Warner asked TRICARE to reconsider coverage limits for active-duty families

Jul 19 2013

May 24 2013