Warner weekly wrap up: #TweetsMatter

#TWEETSMATTER

Sens. Warner and Burr at an Intel Committee hearing (Photo courtesy of Politico).

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) released this joint statement on Thursday in response to President Trump’s unsubstantiated assertion that he was the target of surveillance by the Obama Administration:

“Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016.”

One day earlier, the two top members of the House Intelligence Committee also repudiated Trump’s claims. House Speaker Paul Ryan chimed in Thursday, too, saying that “we’ve seen no evidence” for Trump’s wiretapping claims.

RUSSIAN AGENTS & HACKERS CHARGED

Senator Warner applauded the Justice Department’s indictment of Yahoo’s alleged Russian hackers this week, but said he remains troubled by the involvement of the Russian government and remains unhappy with Yahoo’s months-long delay in informing customers of the massive data beach.

Warner, a leader on issues around data breach and cyber security, and co-founder of the Senate’s bipartisan Cybersecurity Caucus, said the indictments were a reminder to American businesses that they need to invest in “robust cyber defenses,” as well as to be “more willing to share threat information, and be much more upfront with consumers when their defenses fail.”

‘SKINNY’ CERTAINLY IS ONE WAY TO DESCRIBE IT 

President Trump released a partial outline of his 2018 budget on Thursday, proposing billions of dollars in spending cuts to most government agencies to pay for large increases in military and homeland security spending.

Senator Warner said it includes “many short-sighted choices that, if implemented, could actually harm our country’s strength and long-term growth.” Senator Warner urged the White House to work with Congress on a more balanced, businesslike approach that respects the value of smart investments in the country’s economic future.

The Washington Post has a great chart with winners and losers under the Trump budget.

24 MILLION REASONS

The House Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act continues to move through the House, and it is expected to face objections from several key Senate Republicans. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, many Americans will see their out-of-pocket costs rise sharply, and 24 million Americans will lose their health coverage completely in the next decade.

Senator Warner opposes the House Republican plan, and he also criticized the Trump White House this week after it attacked the credibility of CBO’s analysis. CBO is an independent referee which has served Presidents and Congresses of both parties for more than 40 years, and its professional staff of budget and policy experts is strictly nonpartisan.

“Attacking the nonpartisan referee does not bode well for honest conversations to come on priorities such as debt and deficits, infrastructure spending, and tax reform,” Senator Warner said. “All of us – the administration, Congress, and the American people – need an honest broker in this process capable of setting a baseline of trust in the numbers we’ll be using.”

WEEK AHEAD

Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to open four days of hearings Monday on the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Also Monday, the House Intelligence Committee will hold a public meeting on the Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.