Warner Weekly Wrap-Up: Cruel Intentions

Happy Friday from the Warner press office! Did you see that Sen. Warner took us all back to class this week for a step-by-step explainer of the housing crisis and his numerous pieces of legislation aimed at fixing it, building more homes, and lowering rents and mortgages for all? You can watch that on his YouTube channel here.

In addition to his tireless work on the affordable housing crisis, Sen. Warner also put in work this week fighting the Republican tax scam, introducing legislation to improve air safety, and speaking out against some of this administration’s other missteps.

There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get started:

BIG BAD BILL

For weeks, Sen. Warner has been raising every alarm about the absolutely disastrous Republican tax scam. He’s released explainers, joined livestreams, and called attention to its horrible impacts rigging the tax system for the ultra-wealthy. This week, he continued to make the stakes abundantly clear by raising the alarm about some concerning new statistics – the bill will throw 16 million Americans off their health insurance and add $2.4 trillion to the deficit.

After these new numbers came out, Sen. Warner said,

“Sixteen million people. That’s the cost of the Republican plan. This is not just a number – it represents moms, dads, kids, veterans, and retirees who will be forced to choose between rent and life-saving care. At a time when costs are already too high for too many Americans, this plan would rip coverage away from millions just to hand tax breaks to the wealthiest. It’s cruel, it’s shortsighted, and we are going to fight like hell to stop it.”

But wait… there’s more! Another less-covered but disastrous element of this bill is that it would eliminate Direct File – a pilot program that allows Americans to file their taxes directly through IRS-assisted free software, saving them from paying for tax preparation services.

Why is this such a big deal? Well the tax preparation industry often targets low-income Americans with high fees, even though these same folks often have the easiest returns to prepare. In just its short pilot period, the Direct File program had successfully helped 140,803 taxpayers claim more than $90 million in refunds and save $5.6 million in tax preparation fees!

And honestly, why is this administration trying to make it harder for anyone to have to do their taxes? Doesn’t seem like a popular position to us! Sen. Warner and Sen. Kaine teamed up to blast this predatory and dumb policy, saying:

“If it were up to us, we’d be debating ways to put money back in the pockets of working Virginians. But the megabill Republicans are ramming through Congress does the opposite. Not only will it raise taxes for millions of working Americans, it will cut off a new, successful service that allows people to file their taxes directly to the IRS without having to pay a middleman’s fees. We should be strengthening programs that lower costs, not eliminating them.”

This fight is only heating up and you better believe that Sen. Warner is ready and willing to fight this terrible piece of legislation until the very end. If you missed his explainer on all of its many disastrous elements, you can catch up here:

CRUELTY AND MISMANAGEMENT

Every single week under this administration, we ask ourselves one important question… is this disastrous action intentionally cruel, or are these people just really incompetent? Unfortunately, this week (as most weeks) we got some evidence of both.

Let’s kick it off with the simply cruel: this week, the administration announced they were shutting down many Jobs Corps centers across the country, which will abruptly eliminate crucial job training for thousands of young Americans and cut nearly 13,000 jobs across the program’s 99 centers.

If you’re not familiar already, these centers give young adults education, vocational training, and job placement assistance, and more than 80 percent of program graduates are employed within six months – which in turn leads to as much as a 20 percent reduction in unemployment in areas with a Job Corps center.

This cruelty directly impacts two Virginian Job Corps centers – Old Dominion and Blue Ridge, which collectively serve 163 Virginians, many of whom are homeless or aging out of foster care.

But I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that this administration is against something that constructively grows the economy!

Sen. Warner spoke out against these cruel cuts, saying:

“For decades, the Job Corps program has transformed lives in Virginia and across the country by helping to equip young people with the skills and resources they need to succeed. It’s deeply frustrating, and incredibly short-sighted, to see the Trump administration pause operations. We should be investing more in opportunities that lift up our young people, strengthen our workforce, and have a tremendous economic impact in the Commonwealth.”

And in related cruelty – but a more glaring example of just pure incompetence – this administration also seriously messed up when they released an error-laden list of sanctuary jurisdictions across the country.

First of all, Virginia has no sanctuary cities, but several were included on the erroneous document. Second of all, the document listed jurisdictions that don’t even exist… like a “Martinsville County.” Get real! It’s an insult to the hardworking law enforcement across the country and the people of Virginia… and makes it seem likely that this administration is turning to untested and error-filled AI to release essential documents. After this fiasco, Sen. Warner said,

“This list is further proof that the Trump administration’s obsession with government efficiency is nothing but cheap talk. The White House should get its basic facts straight before attempting to come after Virginia’s localities and its hardworking public servants.”

Unfortunately, this is likely far from the end of this administration’s reckless incompetence and routine cruelty. You can rest assured that whatever the next week, month, and year has in store, Sen. Warner is committed to speaking up and fighting it.

IMPROVING AIR SAFETY

As you all may remember, Sen. Warner immediately stood with victims of the heartbreaking air crash at DCA in January and promised that their lives and legacies would be honored with action to prevent future tragedies.

After successfully pressing for some immediate improvements to ensure that helicopters aren’t unnecessarily flying in the already overcrowded DCA-area airspace, Sen. Warner continued his push for safety this week by joining with his colleagues to introduce new legislation.

The Safe Operation of Shared Airspace Act of 2025 builds on Sens. Warner and Kaine’s years-long legacy of fighting for a safer flying environment. (You may remember that the senators have also fought hard to keep unwanted, enormous flights out of DCA in the so-called slots and perimeters fight.)

This legislation would make a number of important changes to improve air safety by:

• Strengthen Aviation Safety to Protect the Flying Public by:

  • Closing the ADS-B Out Military Loophole.

  • Expanding Use of ADS-B In to Boost Safety.

  • Initiating FAA Safety Review of DCA Airspace Management and Other Busy Airports to Prevent Close Calls and Tragic Crashes.

  • Creating Independent Expert Review Panel for Effective SMS at FAA.

  • Requiring Risk Assessments After Major Aircraft Accidents.

• Grow and Protect FAA Staffing Now and in the Future by:

  • Expanding High-Quality Controller Training Pipeline and Boosts Hiring.

  • Protecting FAA Workforce from Cuts and Hiring Freezes.

  • Closing Medical Review Backlogs.

  • Creating New Controller Instructor Recruitment Program.

• Ensure Better FAA Oversight and Demand Information Sharing and Communication Between FAA and DOD

  • Establishing First-Ever FAA Oversight Office for Military Aviation Coordination.

  • Establishing a New Joint FAA-DoD Council on ADS-B.

  • Improving FAA and Military Aviation Safety Information Sharing.

  • Preventing Conflicts of Interest at FAA.

  • Requiring GAO Investigation of DOD Exemption Abuse.

It may sound a little technical, but Sen. Warner is all about dotting every “I” and crossing every “t” to ensure that the flying public feels safe and protected. You can read all about the essential measures this law contains in the full press release here. After introducing it, Sen. Warner said,

“Ensuring the safety of our nation’s air travel is critical, and as we have seen with tragedies and incidents in Virginia and across the country, an urgent matter. The legislation takes important steps to strengthen critical safety measures, boost job training and recruitment efforts, and ensure coordination between the Department of Defense and FAA in order to better protect the millions of Americans who travel by air daily.”

GRAB BAG

MORNING JOE: Missed Sen. Warner on Morning Joe today? You can catch up with his full appearance where he spoke on politicization of the Intelligence Community and the Elon-Trump break-up here.

INTELLIGENT DESIGN: Sens. Warner and Collins (R-ME) reintroduced bipartisan legislation to protect the integrity of the security clearance process and ensure that it cannot be abused for political purposes.

CYBERCHASE: Sen. Warner joined colleagues to write to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urging her to reestablish the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) after the Trump administration dismissed members earlier this year.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Senate will be in session next week and will vote on nominations and legislation. Sen. Warner will also be meeting with constituents across the Shenandoah Valley.

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