Here’s your Warner Weekly Wrap-up

Our hearts go out to the victims of the tragic terrorist attack in New Zealand today. Sen. Warner expressed his condolences and solidarity for the victims this morning, saying:

My heart breaks for the victims of the terrorist attack in New Zealand. Let’s keep the Muslim community in our prayers and stand against the hateful ideology that is behind these attacks on places of worship.

Here’s your Warner Weekly Wrap-up:

This week, Sen. Warner continued his fight for improvements to conditions in military housing. On Monday, Sen Warner held a housing roundtable with military families in Newport News. On Thursday, Sens. Warner and Kaine traveled to Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County with Secretary of the Army Mark Esper. While on base, the Senators visited military family homes and listened to servicemembers and their families at a roundtable discussion.

For months, Sen. Warner has been sounding the alarm on substandard housing conditions in military housing units run by private contractors — following pervasive allegations of health hazards – including lead poisoning, cockroaches, mice, mold blooms and water leaks.

Last week, Sens. Warner and Kaine introduced the Ensuring Safe Housing for our Military Act, which would create stronger oversight mechanisms, allow the military to withhold payments to contractors until issues are resolved, and prohibit contractors from charging certain fees. It would also require the military to withhold incentive fees to poorly performing contractors.

Provisions of the bill include:
• Basic allowance for housing: The installation commander shall withhold payment of a service member’s housing allowance until a military housing official has inspected an environmental, safety or health hazard, verified that appropriate remediation has taken place, and the service member concurs that the remediation is satisfactory. In the case that the hazard requires the service member to leave the housing unit, the housing company will pay all relocation costs.

• Housing costs: Ensures service members don’t have to pay a deposit, and any fee or penalty related to ending a lease early, except for normal wear and tear. The bill also requires contractors to reimburse service members for damage to their private property caused by a hazard.

• Withholding incentive fees: Requires the Secretary of Defense to withhold incentive fees to any contractor who persistently fails to remedy hazards.

• Common credentials: Creates standard credentials for health, safety and environmental inspectors across services, and including contractors, to ensure consistent inspection practices.

• Additional transparency for service members: Requires the Defense Department to establish an electronic system so that service members can track and oversee their work orders.

Sens. Warner and Kaine have been outspoken advocates for service members and their families, pressing the Defense Department to address the health and safety hazards on military bases across Virginia. In August, Sens. Warner and Kaine asked the Army for a plan to address the dangerous conditions found on its bases, including Fort Belvoir in Virginia. In February, Sen. Warner met with Secretary of the Army Mark Esper, pressing for steps the Department plans to take to resolve serious health hazards in military housing.

In February, the Senators wrote to the Secretaries of the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Army, urging each branch to make improving military housing conditions a priority and requesting more information on the existing contracts with several private companies that manage thousands of family housing units at military bases across Virginia. In November, Sen. Warner also wrote to then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis addressing what the Senator termed “unacceptable conditions” in the homes, and demanded a briefing from the Defense Department on the situation as well as a plan from the Defense Department to ensure the safety of military families residing in private housing moving forward.

This week, Sen. Warner announced stunning new numbers highlighting the crumbling state of national parks in Virginia. He continued to emphasize the need to pass the Restore Our Parks Act – bipartisan legislation endorsed by the Trump Administration – to address the maintenance backlog at national parks across the country.

These numbers from the National Park Service (NPS) show that despite completing more than $671 million in needed repair work in the 2018 fiscal year, the national backlog of deferred maintenance needs grew by more than $313 million last year, bringing the total cost of overdue maintenance needs at NPS sites across the country to $11.9 billion. In Virginia alone, the backlog grew by $100 million last year, leading to a $1.1 billion shortfall for Commonwealth’s park sites.

One of the major increases came from deferred maintenance to the Blue Ridge Parkway. This week, Sen. Warner met with Parkway superintendent J.D. Lee at Warner’s office in Washington, D.C. In the meeting, Warner and Lee discussed the fact that deferred maintenance on the Blue Ridge Parkway increased by more than $46 million in 2018, bringing the total for the parkway to $508,077,342, including $212,702,891 in Virginia alone. Sen. Warner also reiterated the need to pass the Restore Our Parks Act.

The Restore Our Parks Act has widespread support among legislators and conservation groups. It would reduce the maintenance backlog by establishing the “National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund” and allocating existing revenues from onshore and offshore energy development. This funding would come from 50 percent of all revenues that are not otherwise allocated and deposited into the General Treasury, not exceeding $1.3 billion each year for the next five years.

Sen. Warner reintroduced the Restore Our Parks Act in February along with Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Angus King (I-ME). A similar bill was introduced in the House by Reps. Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Derek Kilmer (D-WA), and has the backing of more than 120 cosponsors.

VA National Park Deferred Maintenance as of 2018 is available here. The chart below reflects VA data for FY17 and FY18.

Some highlights from Sen. Warner’s busy week:

• GALLING: On Monday, Sen. Warner responded to the President’s budget proposal and highlighted the draconian cuts to critical programs like medical research, education, environmental protection, transportation, and health care, as well is its provisions that single out federal workers.

• SCAMMERS: This week, Sen. Warner and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the Securities Fraud Enforcement and Investor Compensation Act, bipartisan legislation that would give the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) power to seek restitution for Main Street investors harmed by securities fraud.

• CLEARANCE: Along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Warner introduced bipartisan legislation to protect the integrity of the security clearance process and ensure that it cannot be abused for political purposes.

• IT’S POLITICAL: Sen. Warner took Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger to task for her efforts to gut consumer protection rules concerning payday loans.

• FOOD DESERTS: This week, Sen. Warner reintroduced bipartisan legislation to increase access to grocery stores in areas designated as “food deserts.”

• INTERNET OF THINGS: Sen. Warner reintroduced the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019, which would require that devices purchased by the U.S. government meet certain minimum security requirements.

WEEK AHEAD
The Senate adjourned yesterday for its March recess and will return on Monday, March 25th.