Warner YEARLY Wrap-Up: Goodbye 2021

Happy Holidays from the Warner Press Office. This year, Sen. Warner worked to deliver big for the people of Virginia by securing a wealth of measures to bolster COVID-19 recovery efforts, strengthen the economy, support Virginia families, and upgrade our nation’s decaying infrastructure.

Read all about it in your Warner YEARLY Wrap-up:

FOR MAIN STREET

Restaurant Relief: In order to help small local restaurants, bars, and craft breweries stay in business and keep their workers employed during the public health emergency, Sen. Warner fought to secure $28.6 billion for direct grants to restaurants and other qualifying businesses affected by COVID-19 as part of the American Rescue Plan. As a result, more than 2,700 restaurants in Virginia received relief totaling $649 million. The measure was based on the RESTAURANT’s Act, a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Warner, and he will keep fighting in the new year to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund so that more struggling local businesses can get access to the government help they need to survive the pandemic.

Save our Stages: To support live entertainment venues hard-hit by the pandemic, Sen. Warner secured $1.25 billion as part of the American Rescue Plan. This provision was based on the Save our Stages Act cosponsored by Sen. Warner. After the government rollout of the program was snarled by delays and technical problems, Sen. Warner successfully pushed the Small Business Administration to get its act together, distributing $200 million in grants to more than 200 venues across Virginia.

Hotel Recovery: To support the hotel industry’s recovery, Sen. Warner succeeded in getting the General Services Administration to once again freeze “per diem” rates to pre-COVID-19 levels and ensure that government travel can continue to play an important role in the sector’s recovery.
Paycheck Protection: Throughout the pandemic, Sen. Warner has fought to help struggling small businesses. Thanks in part to his strong advocacy, the American Rescue Plan included $7.25 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and an expansion of eligibility to include more nonprofits and digital media companies. Over the course of the pandemic, 113,491 PPP loans provided close to $5.57 billion in relief to Virginia businesses.

Helping Minority Businesses and Entrepreneurs: As part of the December 2020 COVID-19 relief package, Sen. Warner secured $12 billion for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) to help minority-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs weather and emerge stronger from the pandemic. In June, the U.S. Treasury Department awarded more than $21 million in funding for 18 CDFIs across Virginia, with more funding expected to follow this year.

FOR VIRGINIA FAMILIES AND WORKERS

Child Tax Credit: In 2021, 939,000 families across Virginia received over $2 billion from the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) that was included in the American Rescue Plan. In Virginia, 1.6 million children across the Commonwealth benefited from the expanded tax credit, including 249,000 children living in poverty or deep poverty, and the CTC is credited with a 40 percent reduction in child poverty nationwide – a monumental accomplishment. Sen. Warner is currently fighting to renew the credit, which expired earlier this month.

Earned Income Tax Credit: The American Rescue Plan also expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit for one year, helping 400,000 Virginia workers. Sen. Warner is fighting to make the ARP’s changes to the EITC permanent in the new year.

Stimulus Checks: More than 7 million people in Virginia received more than $9 billion in economic impact payments (EIPs) from the American Rescue Plan, helping them cover essential expenses like food, rent, and medical bills.

Reopening Schools: The American Rescue Plan delivered $2.11 billion for Virginia K-12 schools and more than $955 million for Virginia’s colleges and universities to allow them to safely reopen and address learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Making Child Care More Affordable: To help Virginians afford child care and to help ensure child care providers can continue operating safely, the American Rescue Plan included $306 million for Virginia Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) programs; $490 million for Virginia Child Care Stabilization Grants; $16.557 million for Virginia Head Start programs; and an increase in the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to significantly ease the burden of child care costs for many Virginia families, who pay on average $14,063 annually for infant care and $10,867 for the care of 4-year olds.

Helping Families Stay in their Homes: The COVID-19 pandemic placed an unprecedented financial strain on many families across Virginia. Through the American Rescue Plan, Virginia received $451 million in emergency rental assistance to help people behind on their rent. It also included more than $258 million in aid to Virginia homeowners for help with mortgage payments, utility bills, and other housing costs.

FOR VIRGINIA’S URBAN COMMUNITIES

Addressing a Costly Technicality: Sen. Warner successfully worked to ensure fair treatment of Virginia’s independent cities in the local fiscal recovery funds authorized by the American Rescue Plan after a misclassification technicality threatened to cost Virginia as much as $800 million in federal funding.

Protecting Urban Funding: To protect crucial funding for a number of metropolitan localities, Sen. Warner successfully urged the Office of Management and Budget to reconsider a proposal that would have increased the minimum population needed to qualify as a metropolitan statistical area from 50,000 to 100,000. This proposed change would have eliminated the designation for 144 communities, including five in Virginia (Blacksburg-Christiansburg, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Winchester-Frederick County). These classifications are tied to several housing and transportation programs and have important impacts on their respective cities and towns.

FOR OUR NATIONAL SECURITY

American Competitiveness: Sen. Warner helped ensure Senate passage of the United States Innovation and Competition Act – legislation to make generational investments in advanced manufacturing, and research and development. As part of this bill, Sen. Warner successfully secured:
$1.5 billion for the Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act, which will help encourage and support U.S. innovation in the race for 5G by investing in Western-based alternatives to Chinese equipment providers Huawei and ZTE.

$52 billion for the Senator’s Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act, to help fund the construction or modernization of new semiconductor fabs, promote research and development in advanced packaging, and promote greater supply chain security.

Military Base Resilience: To strengthen military base resilience, Sen. Warner secured an amendment to the nation’s annual defense bill that makes stormwater management eligible under military construction projects, military installation resilience projects, unspecified minor military construction projects, and defense access roads projects. As the second-largest Federal landholder in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the Department of Defense – which has 137 Defense installations, sites, and facilities in the area – plays a vital role in reducing stormwater loads, while at the same time enhancing climate resiliency. This provision was based on legislation introduced by Sen. Warner.

FOR VETERANS & MILITARY FAMILIES

Servicemember Care: Sen. Warner secured an amendment in the nation’s annual defense bill to pause a proposal that would transition some servicemembers from receiving care at Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) to receiving care from community providers. The amendment pauses the restructuring for one year and requires a U.S. Government Accountability Office assessment of the proposed cuts in order to provide a better picture of the proposal’s impact on servicemembers.

Pay Raise and Benefits: Sen. Warner strongly supported the move in this year’s defense bill to grant servicemembers a much-needed 2.7 percent pay increase for next year. The legislation also authorized up to 12 weeks of parental leave for all primary and secondary caregivers following the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

National Guard Readiness: To support the Virginia National Guard, which was particularly affected by the Afghan resettlement mission, Sen. Warner secured an amendment in the nation’s annual defense bill to help bring assistance and resources to help cover the costs and resources associated with the mission. The amendment directs the Department of Defense to submit a report outlining all the ways in which the mission has affected the Guard so that Congress can ensure the Guard has the support it needs going forward.

Mental Health Support: To combat military suicide, Sen. Warner secured an amendment in the nation’s annual defense bill that will require the Department of Defense to allow servicemembers to self-refer for an immediate and confidential mental health evaluation. In practice, this amendment will allow servicemembers to use a verbal phrase with a figure of authority to self-report and seek help for any mental health issues, without having to divulge full details of their situation, or formally go through command or law enforcement entities – all of which can be barriers to reporting for individuals who are afraid of the stigma or repercussions of their seeking help.

Care for Blue Water Vets: To ensure appropriate access to medical care for veterans exposed to Agent Orange, Sen. Warner pressed the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand Agent Orange coverage to veterans who served on ships off the shore of Vietnam. In May, the VA announced that it would re-adjudicate previously-denied claims for veterans who served in the offshore waters of Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Traumatic Brain Injury Support: To support American public servants who have incurred brain injuries from probable microwave attacks, Sen. Warner – the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee – secured the passage of the HAVANA Act. This legislation gives the CIA Director and the Secretary of State additional authority to provide financial support to those suffering from brain injuries as a result of the anomalous health incidents.

FOR DRIVERS AND RIDERS

Infrastructure Deal Dollars: Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Sen. Warner negotiated and secured:
o $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, including $16 billion for the Amtrak National Network to distribute to non-Northeast Corridor states – $944 million of which has already been promised to Virginia for the construction of a new Long Bridge across the Potomac River to double the capacity of rail crossing between Virginia and DC

More than $1.2 billion over five years for Virginia’s public transit systems

More than $7.7 billion for Virginia roads and bridges

Renewed Federal Funding Commitment for Metro: Sen. Warner secured $150 million annually in federal funding for WMATA through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. As part of this legislation, he also successfully advocated to include a series of WMATA Inspector General reforms in an effort to provide more robust oversight of WMATA. These provisions were based on the Senator’s Metro Safety, Accountability & Investment Act of 2021.

American Rescue Plan Dollars: Sen. Warner secured $1,348,000,000 in rural transit funding and $1,517,221,000 in urban transit funding for the Commonwealth to help transit providers stay afloat and avoid drastic service and staffing cuts during the pandemic. This funding came as part of the American Rescue Plan, which was negotiated by Sen. Warner, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over public transit.

FOR AIR TRAVELERS

COVID-19 Dollars: Thanks to the work of Sen. Warner – who last year negotiated and crafted the framework for the December COVID-19 relief bill – Virginia received more than $19 million to help 11 regional airports throughout the Commonwealth continue combatting COVID-19 and serving travelers.

American Rescue Plan Dollars: As airports continued to struggle with pandemic-related declines in air traffic, Sen. Warner secured $218,722,000 for airports in the Commonwealth to help them stay afloat and avoid drastic service and staffing cuts during the pandemic. This funding came as part of the American Rescue Plan, which was negotiated by Sen. Warner.

Infrastructure Deal Dollars: The United States built modern aviation, but America’s airports have long lagged far behind our competitors. According to some rankings, no U.S. airports rank in the top 25 of airports worldwide. That should all change soon thanks to funding included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Sen. Warner helped write and negotiate. The bill includes $400 million for Virginia airports that can be invested in runways, taxiways, safety and sustainability projects, as well as terminal, airport-transit connections and roadway projects. The first round of $77 million has already gone out the door to Virginia’s 46 airports, and the full list of how this funding from the bipartisan law will be distributed to airports across Virginia over the coming years is available here.

FOR OUR PORTS AND WATERWAYS

Port of Virginia: As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Sen. Warner secured $1.5 billion in funding within the Army Corps of Engineers for construction activities in and around harbors and navigation channels in the U.S. This funding can potentially be used for construction activities important for the Port of Virginia, including the Norfolk Harbor Deepening and Widening project. The infrastructure law included a total of $17 billion overall for port infrastructure to fund waterway and coastal infrastructure, inland waterway improvements, and land ports of entry, and much of this money is expected to make its way to Virginia in the months and years ahead.

Port of Virginia, Part II: Just this week, Sen. Warner announced that the Virginia Port Authority will receive $20 million in funding from the Department of Transportation for improvements to Portsmouth Marine Terminal that will allow it to serve as a staging area for the 2.6 gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project and for other commercial offshore wind projects up-and-down the East Coast. In letters and phone calls, Sen. Warner personally lobbied Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for the money for the Port project.

FOR OUR FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS

WOOF: To ease a unique burden on Virginia’s military and diplomatic families, Sen. Warner urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop plans to lift a blanket suspension of the importation of dogs from 113 countries with increased risk of rabies. While Sen. Warner understood the importance of limiting the threat of reintroducing canine rabies virus into the U.S., he also recognized the ban’s effect on Virginia’s military and diplomatic families that could not bring home their family pet from an assigned duty station. Thanks to Sen. Warner’s advocacy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) implemented a refined ban on December 1 that exempted dogs who were previously vaccinated against rabies and entered through ports of entry with CDC quarantine stations, which includes Dulles.

NEIGH: To protect horses from abusive show practices, Sen. Warner pushed the Department of Agriculture to help enforce the Horse Protection Act (HPA). Sen. Warner, a longtime champion of the [Prevent%20All%20Soring%20Tactics%20(PAST)%20Act]Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, has been a leader in calling for increased HPA enforcement to prevent horse soring – the cruel and inhumane practice of deliberately inflicting pain on the legs and hooves of horses to produce an artificially high-stepping gait, known as the “Big Lick.” On December 9, 2021, the Department of Agriculture announced that it would promulgate a new, stronger proposed enforcement rule.

YAY: In light of his leadership on horse soring and other critical animal welfare priorities, Sen. Warner once again received a perfect 100 on the Humane Society 2021 scorecard.

WINS FOR NOVA…

COLONIAL PARKWAY: Sen. Warner secured $128.7 million to rehabilitate a section of Colonial Parkway at Colonial National Historical Park. This funding was made available through the Great American Outdoors Act, legislation authored and championed by Sen. Warner.

MEMORIAL TRAIL: To provide a tribute to the family members and loved ones who were victims of the 9/11 attacks, Sen. Warner secured Senate passage of the 9/11 National Memorial Trail Act, which links the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania. In 2019, Sen. Warner worked to pass a Senate Resolution recognizing the September 11th National Memorial Trail.

… CENTRAL VIRGINIA

24/7 Operations: Sen. Warner succeeded in keeping the Richmond Air Traffic Control Tower open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expressed interest in closing the tower between the hours of midnight and 5:00 a.m., Sen. Warner pressed to maintain 24/7 operational hours for the sake of travelers, businesses, and other stakeholders.

“Dude, Where’s My Mail?”: After a series of personal visits from Sen. Warner, service and delivery at the Charlottesville Post Office is finally improving, Virginians report. Under pressure from Sen. Warner, the USPS has hired dozens of much-needed new employees to alleviate mail backlogs that resulted in many residents waiting days or even weeks to receive their mail, packages, and other necessities.

… COASTAL VIRGINIA

New Clinic: To alleviate high demand and wait times for care at VA medical facilities in Hampton Roads, Sen. Warner pushed the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to finally select a location for a new Southside outpatient clinic for veterans. The 196,000-square-foot outpatient facility will be constructed on a 25-acre parcel of land on the Chesapeake Regional Hospital campus and was ultimately the result of Sen. Warner’s efforts beginning in 2016 to approve 28 overdue VA medical facilities leases.

F-22s: After years of advocacy, Sen. Warner successfully advocated for the permanent relocation of the F-22 Raptor formal training unit (FTU) to Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) in Hampton. The rebasing of the F-22 FTU will include the relocation of more than 31 F-22 and 16 other training aircraft, along with an estimated 700 skilled military and civilian personnel and contractors and approximately 1,600 dependents. The personnel will settle in communities near JBLE to support the unit’s training mission and operations.

Norfolk Harbor Project: As part of the President’s FY22 Budget Request, Sen. Warner secured $83.7 million and a New Start designation for the Norfolk Harbor Deepening and Widening project – a key step to getting the cost-share agreement between the Port of Virginia and the Army Corps of Engineers initiated. The Norfolk Harbor project was one of only a small number of U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) projects selected for a New Start in the President’s budget request.

Offshore Wind Project: Sen. Warner helped facilitate an agreement between the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) that will allow USACE to provide additional staff and resources to expedite the permitting process for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. This partnership is critical to the success of the offshore wind industry in the United States, allowing USACE to immediately provide technical support to BOEM to facilitate federal reviews and assist in decision-making on the growing number of offshore wind projects. This additional capacity will allow BOEM to focus on a broader range of challenges, including the development of additional offshore wind leases that will offer additional market opportunities and help secure the supply chain needed to reach renewable energy targets.

Seafood Processors: To support Virginia’s seafood processors, Sen. Warner successfully advocated for additional H-2B visas, by urging the Department of Homeland Security to quickly make available the maximum number of Congressionally-authorized H-2B visas in order to ensure Virginia seafood producers had an adequate seasonal workforce. After a series of personal follow-ups by Sen. Warner, the Department of Homeland Security issued an additional 22,000 visas.

Milford Haven Station Hours: Sen. Warner successfully advocated against the Coast Guard’s proposed downgrading of the Milford Haven station in Mathews County to summer-only operations. After hearing from numerous constituents who opposed the decision and its potential impacts, Sen. Warner maintained constant communication with the Coast Guard until it decided to reverse course and maintain year-round service.

… & RURAL VIRGINIA

Internet Access: In 2021, broadband isn’t a “nice to have” – it’s a necessity – but for too many Virginians, especially in the Valley and Southwest and Southside Virginia, access to high-speed internet remains out of reach. In order to increase access to broadband internet for Virginia families, Sen. Warner secured $10 billion for the Critical Capital Projects Fund as part of the American Rescue Plan, which he helped negotiate. Virginia used funding from this effort and other funds secured as part of the American Rescue Plan to commit to a bold, first-in-the-nation $700 million commitment to expand broadband to every household in the Commonwealth.

Internet Access, Part II: Building on the down payment made through the American Rescue Plan, Sen. Warner personally secured $65 billion for broadband through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which he helped negotiate.

Internet Access, Part III: Are you sensing a theme here? Since his days as Governor of Virginia, Sen. Warner’s been fighting to expand access to high-speed internet across the Commonwealth – a need that became all the more acute during the pandemic, as working, learning and healthcare shifted online. In response, Sen. Warner used his connections to bring a SpaceX trial program to Wise County that used satellite technology to expand internet access to 50 homes with school children and no broadband access. Over the last year, the Starlink program has continued to expand across SWVA, with an additional 200 children gaining access to broadband.

Lee County Hospital: In 2013, the Lee County Regional Medical Center closed abruptly, leaving the residents of Lee County without access to a nearby hospital and hindering opportunities for economic development in the area. Sen. Warner spent years working with the Lee County Hospital Authority, Ballad Health and local officials to reopen the hospital, which began operations this summer.

CASEWORK – BY THE #’S

One of Sen. Warner’s most integral duties is assisting constituents with federal services like Social Security, Medicare, veterans or military affairs, taxes, passports, and immigration issues. Each year, Sen. Warner’s office assists thousands of Virginians in navigating the federal bureaucracy. This year, that was particularly important for folks struggling to bounce back from the pandemic. Let’s take a look at the numbers:

Number of Casework Letters Sent – 34,461
Cases Opened – 6,451
Cases Closed – 6,316

Agency Funds Recouped to Virginians: $10,647,903.09 from the IRS, VA, Social Security Administration, Office of Personnel Management, Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, and other federal agencies

Just a couple of highlights from a busy year in casework:

Passports: Increased demand, mail delays, and processing backlogs due to COVID-19 meant that it took more time than many Virginians expected to obtain or renew a passport this year, with passports taking 12 weeks or longer to renew through the U.S. State Department – resulting in stress, added expenses, and canceled trips. As a result, Sen. Warner’s office saw a record number of requests for assistance expediting passports this year, opening 1,346 cases (representing anywhere from one to ten passports for a whole family) and successfully closing out 1,338 of these by year’s end, allowing constituents to travel on to their international destinations.

Resettled: Earlier this year, in the immediate chaos of the Kabul airport bombing, two young children were pulled through the gates while their mother was killed and their father and teenage brother were pushed back in the crowd. After hearing about this case, Sen. Warner worked to get the two children boarded on a medical flight from Germany to the U.S., and eventually released into the care of their aunt in Alexandria, Va.
Vaccinations: When a long-term care facility in Arlington spent weeks trying to get their residents vaccinated against COVID-19, only to be told that they would have to individually register each of their 350 residents with the Virginia Department of Health to get them vaccinated, Sen. Warner’s office stepped in to cut through the red tape and help set up a mass vaccination clinic on-site at the facility to protect the staff and residents against COVID-19.

YEAR AHEAD

From all of us in the Warner Press Office, Happy New Year! Here’s to a better 2022.