EDITORIAL: Webb, Warner easing into first Senate terms

By: | Stafford County Sun
Published: November 02, 2009

With elections coming up tomorrow, let’s look back at the state’s rookie senators: Democrats Jim Webb and Mark Warner.

Jim Webb has been extremely active recently, calling for the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program with $9 million for the 2010 fiscal year.

The Civil War BPP is a matching grants program that has protected 15,300 acres of pristine battlefield — including land at Culpeper County’s Brandy Station, the war’s largest cavalry battle. Federal
money that protects our nation’s history is money well spent, and we commend the senator for his proactive stance in this arena.

Webb also has co-sponsored a bill that would extend unemployment benefits by 14 weeks. Millions of hard-working people are left sitting at home during our current economic hardship, and they need a
little assistance. Once the economy turns and employers begin hiring again, unemployment claims will decrease. In the meantime, Webb is doing the right thing in helping those who are without jobs.

For going on three weeks, the Senate has continued to argue this bill, and we hope a bipartisan solution can be found that is in the best interest of the entire country.

As for fellow senator Mark Warner, he has put his efforts behind health care reform and has been hitting the campaign trail for gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds.

While Webb has been the more visible and vocal of the two, Warner is still getting his feet wet, and we expect to see him become more involved, especially when it comes to pushing his “radical centrist”
ideas.

To get elected in right-leaning Virginia, Warner used a business-friendly formula that made him appear more Republican than Democrat. That works on the campaign trail, but it can be a hard position to
stake out, especially when the bulk of your party is pushing legislation that promotes unions, expands federal government and generally makes the private sector an afterthought.

It will be interesting to see if Warner truly stakes out his own course, or whether he goes lock step with the party’s powerbrokers.

— Culpeper Star-Exponent