Sen. Mark Warner blamed the Trump administration on Wednesday for the government shutdown that began at midnight, saying the president bears responsibility for failing to prevent the closure despite Republican control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.
Speaking to Virginia media during a remote availability from the Capitol, Warner said the shutdown differs from previous ones because bipartisan negotiations completely broke down. The Virginia Democrat said Trump had only one meeting with Democrats before the shutdown deadline.
“In prior shutdowns, there were at least conversations and meetings between both parties,” Warner said. “The president had never met with the Democrats until the day before the shutdown took place.”
Warner criticized what he called unprecedented threats by the administration to fire federal workers without cause. He said the Office of Management and Budget director’s stated goal was to “terrorize” the federal workforce.
“I’ve got legislation that would say just like federal workers, when the government reopens, they should get their back pay as well,” Warner said, referring to federal contractors who don’t receive retroactive pay like government employees.
The senator warned that Virginia faces a healthcare crisis, as insurance premium notices are scheduled to be sent out this month. He said an average couple making $80,000 annually and in their mid-60s who buy insurance through the exchange will see increases of about $800 per month.
“Most folks I know can’t afford that,” Warner said. “So that will be an economy that is already where affordability is the top issue. It is going to slam families at an unprecedented rate.”
Warner said the healthcare cost increases will affect all Virginians, not just those who buy insurance through exchanges. He predicted that removing 600,000 to 700,000 people from the insurance market would force them into emergency rooms, driving up costs for everyone.
“We can’t take, say, in Virginia, six or seven hundred thousand people and throw them into the emergency room without everybody’s costs going up,” he said. “And we know that there will be rural hospitals around Virginia that will close their doors.”
Southwest Virginia will be hit hardest by the healthcare changes, according to Warner. He specifically mentioned Lee County Hospital, which took years to reopen, as potentially being “on the chopping block.”
“We’ve already got, as you know, wide swaths of Southwest Virginia where you don’t have OB-GYN services,” Warner said. “If a mom can’t deliver a baby except for driving two or three hours to get to a hospital, then your community’s not going to have a chance to kind of go through the economic recovery.”
Warner said Augusta Health in Augusta County has already closed rural clinics due to anticipated Medicaid cuts.
The senator expressed particular concern about the timing of the healthcare crisis, noting that signup for the Affordable Care Act marketplace begins in November. He said people won’t sign up if they can’t afford the higher premiums.
“These trains need to run in parallel,” Warner said, referring to the need to address both the shutdown and healthcare costs simultaneously.
Warner criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s speech to military commanders at Quantico, calling it “insulting” and “demeaning” to officers with combat experience. He said Hegseth, whom he described as a “Fox newscaster,” lectured 800 senior military officers about fitness standards and grooming.
“I think it is remarkable that the men and women who appeared there have actually had years of experience in combat,” Warner said. “And to be lectured by a Fox newscaster, I think, is demeaning and belittling.”
However, Warner praised the military leadership’s response, saying their professionalism gave him hope that the institution would remain loyal to the Constitution.
“The military yesterday, I think, demonstrated by their decorum, their absolute loyalty to the Constitution,” he said. “That filled me with hope because so many institutions are allowing excesses and breakings of laws and norms to go unquestioned and unheeded.”
Warner said he has heard from federal workers across Virginia who feel they have been “under assault” for months. He said many took early retirement packages and received their last paychecks on Wednesday.
“The overwhelming majority of federal workers who’ve been in touch with me over the last few weeks have said they feel like they’ve been in a continuous shutdown already for the last seven months,” Warner said.
The senator said Northern Virginia, with its large population of federal workers and contractors, will be particularly affected. He noted that federal contractors don’t receive retroactive pay like government employees.
Warner mentioned other programs at risk, including the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program, which may have only one to two weeks of funding remaining.
The senator said he remains hopeful for bipartisan negotiations but criticized the administration’s approach. He said Trump has pushed boundaries on multiple fronts, including threatening to revoke FCC licenses from media outlets that don’t adhere to the president’s views.
“This president is pushing on every boundary on every legal front to see how far he can go,” Warner said.
Warner called for immediate action to reopen the government, while also addressing healthcare costs, saying both issues need to be resolved before the end of the year, when insurance enrollment begins.
