Sen. Warner wants another crack at the national debt

VIRGINIA BEACH

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said Wednesday he's attempting to form a new coalition - this time with both House and Senate members - to replace the so-called Gang of Six senators.

The panel would push for major changes in spending, taxes and social welfare programs to reduce the federal deficit by about $4 trillion over 10 years.

"I'm not going to give up the fight. This problem is not going to go away," Warner said during a luncheon speech.

The Virginia Democrat said the debt-ceiling legislation recently approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama doesn't make a deep enough dent in the deficit. Nor, he said, does it make changes in taxes or entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare, which must be part of the solution.

The approved legislation requires about $1 trillion in deficit reductions by capping discretionary spending, including defense. An additional $1.2 trillion or more in cuts are to be determined this fall by a 12-member House-Senate "supercommittee."

However, "$2.2 trillion is not enough," Warner told the Filipino American Community Action Group meeting at Suzanne's Kitchenette restaurant. "We can't just get there by cutting."

Warner credited the legislation approved earlier this month for preventing the United States from defaulting on its bills by permitting an increase in the debt limit.

But, he said, the measure didn't go far enough in addressing the fact that the government continues to borrow too much money to pay for its regular expenses.

"We came up with a political bill that kind of just got us over the hump but didn't really solve anything. You saw what happened," he said, recalling that Standard & Poor's subsequently cut the country's credit rating and stock market values dropped.

Warner, who voted for the debt-ceiling bill, said a new coalition should work with Congress' supercommittee to encourage them to reach an agreement but also push for broader changes.

Warner wants to build on the work of the Gang of Six - three Republicans and three Democrats, including himself - who developed a bipartisan plan endorsing hundreds of billions of dollars in potential budget cuts.

The panel of six senators also supported rewriting tax codes to broaden the tax base; cutting defense spending; and overhauling entitlement programs.

Warner warned his audience, which included several military veterans, that any broad plan would probably require higher taxes for some and higher fees for some services, including Tricare.

"The truth is that you will see some increase in some of the Tricare co-payments," he said. The cost of health care "is the fastest-growing part of the defense budget.... I know some of you don't want to hear that... but everything has to be on the table."

Medicare and Social Security might not change for older Americans, he said, but those programs have to be changed for future retirees or they can't be sustained.

In order to cut deficit spending, changes in the tax codes also are required, he said. The tax rates could be lowered, he said, but some deductions that are popular might be ended.

Warner said he doesn't expect deductions for home mortgage payments to be affected but that deductions for second homes might be reduced or eliminated. There might also be stricter limits on deductions for charitable contributions.

"These are suggestions, not recommendations," he said. "Everything is going to have to take some amount of a small hit."

Warner did not say who might take part in the new coalition, but he acknowledged that he recently talked with U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican who helped form the Gang of Six, and several other lawmakers.

Warner said he hopes to enlist U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, a Northern Virginia Republican who has urged House leaders to consider the Gang of Six's plans.

"We also need to make it a broad coalition," Warner said. "We also need the business community, who have, frankly, been absent."

The senator said any budget and deficit changes would require Democrats and Republicans to compromise.

"I think you need to demand from all of us that we put the country first," Warner said. "I think you should fire all of us if we don't - myself included."

Bill Bartel, (757) 446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com