Making Moves for Military Families

Hey folks. Here’s a message from my team on my work this week. Enjoy the weekend. – MRW

Happy Friday from the Warner press office. Sen. Warner is meeting with constituents from Hampton Roads to Richmond today, discussing AI, NASA priorities, and breaking ground on the Department of Energy’s new High Performance Data Facility (HPDF). It caps off his busy week in Washington, where he raised the alarm about rising costs for Virginia families, pushed to support military spouses serving in the federal workforce, and fought for the independence of our intelligence community.

Let’s get into it.

Remember when Donald Trump promised to bring prices down on day one? Yeah, about that.

This week, new data showed that Virginia families have had to spend $2,600 more on everyday essentials under the Trump administration. While Americans continue to struggle with the cost of groceries, housing, utilities, and health care, the administration seems more interested in picking tariff fights and starting new forever wars than actually lowering prices.

More specifically, Virginians are paying:

• $572 more on housing costs such as rent and mortgage payments.

• $310 more for groceries.

• $444 more on gas.

• $170 more for electricity in 2025.

The troubling part is that none of this was inevitable… Trump actively caused these higher costs by initiating a painful tariff regime and a new war with Iran. On both fronts, Sen. Warner has been active in pushing back against the root causes of higher prices. He supported the Supreme Court case that found the majority of the tariffs illegal, and introduced legislation to require full refunds (with interest).

Additionally, he has been repeatedly voting to rein in the war in Iran and speaking out tirelessly about how costly it is. He will keep pressing to address the underlying issues while also pursuing solutions that provide immediate relief.

After releasing the new findings, Sen. Warner said:

“While Virginians across the Commonwealth are facing high energy, grocery, housing, and health care costs, the president has done nothing to ease the pain. Once again, Trump shows how out of touch he is with the American people, or that he simply does not care about what Americans are going through under his administration.”

Whether it’s food, rent, child care, or energy bills, Virginians are looking for solutions. Sen. Warner will continue pushing for policies that lower costs for families across the Commonwealth.

Imagine serving your country, moving every few years, and repeatedly rebuilding your career from scratch. That’s the reality for many military spouses.

Military spouses have long faced significant barriers to maintaining stable careers due to frequent relocations and other challenges associated with military life. Federal employment has historically offered an important pathway to stable work, but recent data suggests the government is still falling short when it comes to retaining military spouses in the workforce.

Sen. Warner heard about the issue firsthand when he convened a military families roundtable in Norfolk last week, and he promised he would press for action.

Well, he wasted no time, and this week, he was joined by Sen. Kaine in pressing on the Office of Personnel Management about their lack of progress retaining military spouses.

The senators pressed for answers about why retention remains stubbornly low and what more can be done to ensure military families receive the support they’ve earned through their service and sacrifice. He made a list of four simple requests, asking OPM to:

• Immediately determine what is leading to lower retention of military spouses relative to other federal employees;

• Identify the flexibilities and best practices that currently exist and can improve those retention rates;

• Direct federal agencies to implement these best practices and, to the maximum extent practicable, utilize these flexibilities;

• Communicate with Congress if any additional resources or changes in law are needed to succeed, all of which would fulfill the commitments OPM and agencies have already made to best serve this population.

In the letter, Sen. Warner also continuously reinforced the importance of support military spouses and families. He said:

“Military service is shouldered by the entire family, with partners and spouses, kids, parents, and other family members working to balance the challenges that exist back home while a loved one is deployed. Over the years, Congress has worked hard with successive administrations to improve upon the network of support available to these families, and local communities and support organizations across the country have stepped in to try to fill gaps that still exist.”

Supporting military families shouldn’t end with a thank you for their service. Sen. Warner will keep pushing to ensure military spouses have access to stable careers and the opportunities they deserve.

Well, if you’ve been following along with Sen. Warner recently, you’ve undoubtedly heard him raise concerns about President Trump’s pick for Acting Director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte.

Sen. Warner released a video this week chronicling his concerns in detail, which you can watch here. But if you don’t have 8 minutes, here’s the tl;dr: Pulte has absolutely NO relevant national security experience. His only relevant qualification is that he used his existing role in the Trump administration to stoke totally bogus prosecutions of Trump’s perceived enemies.

That kind of experience… combined with all the classified information that the DNI is privy to… would spell disaster.

So Sen. Warner led broad opposition to him, and it appears that the stench was too great even for President Trump, who suddenly announced a new nominee for full-time confirmation, Jay Clayton.

We’re far from out of the woods yet – it’s still of critical importance that we prevent Pulte from having this role for even an hour. Sen. Warner also plans to carefully question and consider Clayton’s nomination as well.

He released a statement carefully spelling out his thoughts here:

“I have known and respected Jay Clayton for many years and believe he is a capable public servant. The position of Director of National Intelligence is one of the most important national security jobs in government, overseeing the Intelligence Community and serving as the president’s principal intelligence advisor. Any nominee for this role deserves a thorough confirmation process and rigorous questioning before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“At the same time, the timing of this announcement raises an obvious question: if the president intended to nominate Mr. Clayton, why spend the last ten days insisting that the Intelligence Community be led by an acting director who lacks the extensive national security experience required by statute and whose appointment raises serious concerns about the politicization of intelligence? The president could have put forward a qualified nominee from the beginning. Instead, he waited until the House of Representatives went out of town, choosing a path that raises the risk of an entirely avoidable lapse in a critical national security tool.

“That said, let me be clear – while I am glad to see the president finally come to his senses, before the Senate can take up a FISA extension there needs to be a clear guarantee that Mr. Pulte will not serve as acting DNI. Either Director Gabbard must remain in place or the administration must designate the Senate-confirmed Principal Deputy DNI as the acting head through any transition.”

Sen. Warner will have an opportunity to pepper Clayton with questions at a hearing in the Intelligence Committee next week. You can get more details on that here.

DON’T SCREW WITH ME: Sen. Warner joined colleagues in urging USDA officials to take immediate action to address the growing threat posed by the New World screwworm outbreak.

COUNTING EVERY VOTE: Sen. Warner joined Sens. Padilla and Peters in demanding answers about election security preparations ahead of the 2026 midterms.

BUILDING UP NORFOLK: Sens. Warner and Kaine applauded a $1 million federal grant supporting new housing development as part of Norfolk’s St. Paul’s Redevelopment Project.

CYBERCHASE: Sen. Warner introduced legislation to modernize America’s cybersecurity planning and better defend against emerging artificial intelligence threats.

SNAP DECISION: Sen. Warner joined fellow former governors in raising concerns about proposed SNAP cuts and their impact on state budgets.

MINDING THE MIDTERMS: Sen. Warner, Sen. Kaine, and colleagues warned about the risk of the Trump-Vance administration using election-crime prosecutions to interfere in the 2026 midterm elections.

SMALL BUSINESS, BIG FIGHT: Sen. Warner pressed the Trump administration to reconsider their destabilizing efforts to dismantle the successful Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) programs that help drive job growth and the nation’s transportation economy.

SHOW YOUR WORK: Sen. Warner pressed President Trump to explain the legal basis for his claim that the Iran War is over.

On Sunday morning, catch Sen. Warner on CBS’s Face the Nation. The Senate will be in session next week. Sen. Warner will vote on nominations and legislation, and is expected to question Jay Clayton during his nomination hearing on Wednesday.

###