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In today’s “Washington Times” a lead article begins with the sentence “Leading Democrats like to hold up the Veterans Benefits Administration as an example of how well government can provide health care.” On this I must comment. What I shall describe below is a comparison of my treatment under the current MEDICARE/TRICARE system and that received from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Keep in mind that my treatment by VA was probably expedited as I was already receiving disability and was not new to the VA system when the claim described below was submitted. Someone newly entering the VA system...

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Virginia, said that he voted in favor of the health-care overhaul because he thinks it will lower health-care costs...Warner and Virginia's senior senator, Jim Webb, also a Democrat, recorded their votes to advance the legislation. In the end, the Senate's 58 Democrats and two independents voted to prevent a filibuster and move the bill toward likely passage before Christmas... Webb said the debate "often overwhelmed the substance" of fixing the problem. Warner and Webb said they thought that late changes in the Senate bill improved it. Warner cited the dropping of the public option. But Warner,...

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling sent a strongly worded letter to Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner Monday expressing outrage over special concessions given to certain states to obtain support for federal health care legislation from their Senators and asking them to oppose this legislation, which Bolling called “misguided.” “As you know, one of our major concerns with this legislation is the potential impact it could have on the cost of Medicaid for Virginia’s state government,” wrote Bolling. “Many reports have suggested that this legislation could result in much higher Medicaid costs for state governments across the nation, costs that state...

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) announced Sunday evening he will support Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) $871 billion health care reform package but warned that he could withhold his backing for the final bill as negotiated in the House-Senate conference committee if he is unhappy with any changes made to the legislation.

I went back to our GOP Senate source to ask if the Democratic victory lap over the status of Obmacare in the Senate might be premature. He comments: It feels to me it's nothing short of journalistic malpractice that no one has talked to Jim Webb. He hasn't said a word over the last two days, yet he wrote an op-ed earlier this week saying he was undecided and his spokeswoman told the Washington Post the same thing on Thursday. And no one has asked him anything. One thing I'll say in terms of what Republicans will do over the...

In Congress’s upper chamber, a Virginia fox may be the one to deliver the knock-out uppercut to Obamacare. Quiet, cunning, and independent, Sen. Jim Webb (D., Va.) has been on the sidelines for much of the Senate’s health-care debate. Instead of ranting, like Bernie Sanders, Webb has been mulling legislative language in his office for weeks. Neighboring Senate staffers whisper that Team Webb is having a real tough time shuffling the senator out of the office to make appearances on the glad-handing circuit. It seems the man just wants to sit, study, read, and think — strange priorities in the...

A spokeswoman for Webb told the Washington Post said that the first-term Democratic senator is deliberating how to vote on the Senate's bill but is yet undecided. "It is not surprising that he is being lobbied by interests on both sides of the aisle. Senator Webb has a reputation for being very deliberative and independent-minded," spokeswoman Jessica Smith said in a statement to the Post's Virginia Politics blog. "The fact that he has said he is undecided about this bill is not extraordinary."

Senate Republicans say they want to “smoke out” Democratic senators who could help them bring down the health care bill, and so far, they think they’ve found one in Sen. Jim Webb. With all the attention focused on four other fence-sitting moderates, Webb has voted with Republicans six times on the first series of amendments on the Senate floor — giving GOP leaders some hope that the unpredictable Virginian could buck his party in the end and block the bill. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in GOP leadership, said Webb’s votes “came as a bit of a surprise”...

Dear Ms. Daniel: Knowing of your interest in the ongoing debate in Congress over health care reform, I wanted to update you on a number of votes and positions that I have taken during the process. Together with 60 of my colleagues, I voted in favor of proceeding to debate the proposed health care reform legislation. I have yet to decide whether I will support final passage of the bill. I have stated on several occasions my concerns that the Obama administration should have begun the health care process with a clear, detailed proposal, from which legislation could then be...

Dear Friend, We thought you might be interested in the following column by Senator Webb published in today's Winchester Star. http://www.winchesterstar.com/pages/view/still.html Webb cites concerns, amendments, votes on health care Sen. Jim Webb Like all of my colleagues in the Democratic Party, I voted in favor of proceeding to debate the proposed health-care reform legislation. I have yet to decide whether I will support final passage of the bill. I have stated on several occasions my concerns that the Obama administration should have begun the health-care process with a clear, detailed proposal, from which legislation could then be put into place....

Dear Friend, You know me. I am not a “Born Fundraiser.” In fact, this is the first such letter I have sent out in my entire three years as a United States Senator. But the time has come for me to begin thinking seriously about what it will take if I decide to run for re-election in 2012. And it is important for me to know the extent to which you and others are willing to help. I began my 2006 campaign on February 8th of that very year, only nine months before Election Day. On that day I had...

President Barack Obama should be wary of committing the U.S. to any binding climate standards at a global conference this month without congressional input, one senator warned. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) sent a letter to the president late last week warning Obama against agreeing to any binding climate change agreement during a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark this month. "I would like to express my concern regarding reports that the Administration may believe it has the unilateral power to commit the government of the United States to certain standards that may be agreed upon at the upcoming [conference]," Webb wrote to...

VIRGINIA, Va. -- It's probably the last time that Timothy M. Kaine will step outside his house in the morning to find two dead deer and a turkey on his doorstep. But yesterday, the outgoing Virginia governor and his wife, first lady Anne Holton, stood outside the Executive Mansion in Richmond to preside over a Thanksgiving tradition that dates to the late 1600s -- Virginia's Indian tribes paying tribute to the governor. On a damp and gray but mild morning, Kaine welcomed about 200 people, including members of several generations of Indians in traditional garb, as well as Capitol Square...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Both of Virginia's U.S. senators say they will vote to allow debate on the Senate version of health-care overhaul legislation, but neither has committed to voting for the actual bill. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., got an earful on the subject from a group of small-business owners in Carytown yesterday while protesters rallied outside Warner and Sen. Jim Webb's Richmond offices. *break* Warner, who said he wants to see more cost containment in the Senate's legislation before he can support it, responded that he hasn't committed to vote for the bill. "If it doesn't improve, chances are...

WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Senators on Monday unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at doubling nuclear power in 20 years and increasing funding for research into low carbon sources of energy. Sponsored by Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander and Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the bill would provide $100 billion in loan guarantees for carbon-free electricity projects, adding to the existing $47 billion loan guarantee program. Although the additional loan guarantees would not be limited to nuclear power, the nuclear industry would likely be the major recipient of the extra money because it is one of the most established low carbon...

Byron York at the Washington Examiner has Senator James Webb’s repudiation of the Obama administration decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other 9/11 figures in a New York City courtroom (emphasis mine): I have never disputed the constitutional authority of the President to convene Article III courts in cases of international terrorism. However, I remain very concerned about the wisdom of doing so. Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor. It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to...

We need to start blasting all his phones, emails , twitter account, facebooks, and writing to the newspapers. Even if you don't live in his state you need to still be active on them and tell them no business in Virginia if Webb votes in favor of Obama's reckless Obamacare and cap n trade Danville 308 Craghead Street Suite 102A Danville, VA 24541 Phone: 434-792-0976 Fax: 434-972-0978 Hampton Roads 222 Central Park Ave. Suite 120 Virginia Beach, VA 23462 Phone: 757-518-1674 Fax: 757-518-1679 Northern Virginia 7309 Arlington Boulevard Suite 316 Falls Church, VA 22042 Loehmann's Plaza Phone:703-573-7090 Fax:703-573-7098 Norton 756...

The Talk Shows Sunday, October 25th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Afghan presidential candidate and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah; Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Mike Tuffin, of America's Health Insurance Plans.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Abdullah;...

The military junta of Burma is working hard at oppressing the country’s people and is following in North Korea’s footsteps in becoming a rogue state. At this time when the U.S. is most strategically and morally obligated to support the country’s democracy movement, Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has begun engaging the junta, drawing the ire of today’s Martin Luther Kings and George Washingtons in Burma. Senator Webb became the first member of Congress to visit Burma on August 15, and granted the leader of the junta, General Than Shwe, his first visit from a senior American policy-maker. Webb also...

In my last post on Burma, I reported the second meeting in as many months between Senator Jim Webb and Nyan Win, the foreign minister for the Burmese junta. This time the meeting was in Washington, which required that Win be granted a visa waiver (he, like the rest of the junta's senior figures, is on a prohibited list). [snip] Foreign Minister Nyan Win is actually Major General Nyan Win in the Burmese Army. Before heading up the Foreign Ministry where he became the point man for explaining away the butchery his regime visits on the Burmese people, he was...

SNIPPET: "For all his public activity, Bray has rarely, if ever, discussed his life story in detail. His own MAS biography offers vague descriptions of his work as "a long time civil and human rights advocate." A charismatic African-American convert to Islam, Bray spent this entire decade working for Islamist organizations. Prior to joining MAS, Bray was political director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Those jobs have helped him build a growing public profile and given him access to politicians and policy makers. And that may explain his reluctance to discuss his life before political activism. The Investigative...

The Talk Shows Sunday, September 27th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kit Bond, R-Mo.; Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell; conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Former President Bill Clinton, New York Gov. David Patterson and Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Jim Webb, D-Va.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.THIS WEEK (ABC): Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.

According to Reuters, Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win "has arrived in New York after being granted permission to visit the Burmese embassy in Washington, a US official said yesterday." The unnamed source quoted by Reuters stated that Nyan Win "made a side trip" to the embassy in Washington, but did not meet with any members of the US government." The Burmese embassy has so far refused to comment but Burma-watchers in Washington believe he is still there. All senior members of Burma's military junta are banned from visiting Washington except for very specific international meetings. Nayan Win would certainly fall...

NORFOLK If Congress wants meaningful health care reform, its leaders must stop rushing to pass a bill and hold legislative hearings to air the pros and cons of specific proposals, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb said Thursday. "My thought right now is to slow this down," the Virginia Democrat said. "Open it up. Have some hearings. Let people get their different viewpoints out in a very public way." The problems today with angry people shouting at each other during community forums around the country and the confusion over what might be included in any health care overhaul have their roots in...

A new educational benefit for veterans kicked in at the beginning of this month, marking the first time since 1984’s revamping of the Montgomery GI Bill that Congress has acted to improve education opportunities for servicemen and women after separation. This new program, known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, is exclusively available to military veterans (and the dependents of veterans) who served on or after September 11, 2001. Sponsored in the Senate last year by former Navy Secretary and current Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act” (S.22) rewrote and rebuilt the entire veterans’ educational benefit structure....

Myanmar freed an ailing American whom it had sentenced to seven years of hard labor and handed him to an influential U.S senator on Sunday, a move that could help persuade Washington to soften its hardline policy against the military regime. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who secured John Yettaw's freedom, said he believes years of sanctions have failed to move the Southeast Asian country toward democratic reforms or talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

US senator visits Suu Kyi Published: 16/08/2009 at 04:50 AM Rangoon (AFP) - US Senator Jim Webb met Burmese military ruler Than Shwe and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday after securing the release of the US citizen jailed for visiting Suu Kyi's house in May. John Yettaw, bound for Bangkok Sunday afternoon. Webb, a Democrat with close links to US President Barack Obama, became the first official US visitor to hold talks with the reclusive Than Shwe, encountering the regime's supremo in his bunker-like capital, Naypyidaw, officials said. Webb then flew to Rangoon to meet Nobel peace...

US Senator Jim Webb has said jailed American John Yettaw is to be released by Burma's military leaders and will leave the country with him on Sunday. The announcement came shortly after Mr Webb held talks with Burmese military ruler Than Shwe in Burma. Mr Webb also met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, days after she was given house arrest for 18 more months. Mr Yettaw's uninvited visit to Ms Suu Kyi's home led to her trial. He was himself given seven years' hard labour. Mr Webb's office said Mr Yettaw would be officially deported on Sunday morning and...

Yangon - US Senator Jim Webb arrived in Myanmar's military capital Naypyitaw Friday for high-level talks with the country's ruling junta that are expected to include a meeting with Senior General Than Shwe, government sources confirmed. Webb, a Democrat from Virginia who is chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, flew direct to Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon, in a chartered plane from Vientiane, Laos. He is scheduled to meet with junta chief Than Shwe at 11 am (0430 GMT) Saturday , a foreign ministry source said. Webb's trip to Myanmar, part of a five-nation tour of...

On June 10, the nation tragically witnessed a memorial dedicated to commemorating an atrocity become the site of yet more death. Just before 1 p.m., longtime neo-Nazi James Wenneker Von Brunn entered the Holocaust Museum on the National Mall and opened fire in an attempt to complete the Final Solution his hero had left tentative, an omission Von Brunn dubbed “Hitler’s biggest mistake.” As former Defense Secretary Bill Cohen wandered the museum grounds, Von Brunn killed Stephen T. Johns, a black security officer, then was shot himself. As of this writing, the 88-year-old is in critical condition. The white-wing fringe...

With Capitol Hill Republicans cranking up the volume on the issue of where to send alleged terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb (Va.) reversed himself Sunday, and questioned President Obama's "artificial timelines" for closing the facility. Webb, appearing on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" with Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, said that after reviewing Obama's plans to close the facility within one year, he doesn't agree with the president's time schedule and he opposes bringing any detainees to U.S. soil. "We spend hundreds of millions of dollars building an appropriate facility with all security precautions in...

America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives.

America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives. We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences...

Paid Parental Leave Urge Senators to Support This First StepAsk your senators to support upcoming legislation to guarantee federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave for a new child, as a first step toward universal paid leave.Action Needed:Providing paid leave to parents is only fair to working families who need to both care for a new family member as well as maintain an income. Most industrialized nations have provided paid parental leave for decades.Paid parental leave for 2.7 million federal workers can be the model that we can work to achieve for the rest of the country. This important...

As both an honored veteran of the armed forces and one of the Senate’s most outspoken pro-gun democrats, your endorsement of the candidacy of Barack Obama carried great weight with gun-owning democrats and moderates. After all, his voting record regarding gun-rights and the right to self-defense was abysmal and gun owners were justifiably hesitant to believe his sudden assertion that he “supported” the right to keep and bear arms. It wasn’t until you, and other pro-gun democrats, began to speak out that the tide began to turn. And why wouldn’t it? Your voice means something to those of us who...

I see that Virginia Senator James Webb is in the news with an announcement about preserving "Virginia’s abundant natural, historical, and cultural resources." That's great. In his editorial, Webb stated: "Virginia is fortunate to have such an abundant supply of pristine lands steeped in history. Extending the Civil War Battlefields Preservation program will enable children to experience the same untouched landscapes of their ancestors and visit the places where so many sacrifices were made, by soldiers and civilians, alike." I'm grateful that Senator Webb recognizes this emotional connection Virginians have to their ancestors and the land. (Too bad others don't.)...

We keep hearing that the pork in the bill is 1% of the total. Tonight while channel flipping MSNBC, Maddow, had a reporterette on that said even Senator Jim Webb is upset with this "stimulus" bill quoting him as saying there is at least 100 billion of costs that do not belong in this bill. No vote tonight. Harry Reid was "mistaken" about having the votes. Dems are losing moderate Democratic Senators on this bill.

Mark Warner now has an email address in the Senate. That email is warner_info@warner.senate.gov We need to write him often...so he remembers the conservative nature of the voters in Virginia. His address in DC and phone info is: B40C DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 DC Phone: 202-224-2023 DC Fax: 202-224-2530 PS Jim Webb has no email but does have a webform for messages: http://webb.senate.gov/contact/

Fear of gun control under Obama drives firearms purchases. Ever since Barack Obama won the presidential election, Dusty Medor’s phone has been ringing off the hook. Medor, a soft-spoken bearded gunsmith, runs D & J Gun Repair out of his home in Sterling. Prior to the election, he saw sales dropping a bit, which he attributed mostly to the lagging economy. Now, business is booming so much that he is struggling to restock merchandise fast enough for customers. Gun sales are not only up but Medor is also overseeing more online "transfers," when a person has purchased a gun over...

The Young Democrats Meet the Third Thursday of the month: Next Meeting Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:00 PM Democratic Headquarters 164 High St. NE Warren, Ohio 44481 Rokey Suleman, Past President and Founding Member Fairfax County Registrar Rokey Suleman is disqualifying an overwhelming majority of the military federal write-in absentee ballots received in his county on the basis that no address had been given for those witnessing the voter signatures on the ballots. This is the same guy: Yes. The same guy. Should someone start writing to all of the outlets that might put this into the hands of media...

For a guy who just four years ago was running his first statewide campaign, Barack Obama has made startlingly few missteps as a presidential candidate. --snip-- I was surprised, then, when Webb told me that while he was enthusiastic about Obama and would campaign for him, he did not intend to vouch for him on social issues. “I believe that Barack Obama has the temperament and the intellect and the ideas to be president,” Webb said. “But I don’t talk about his positions, and I don’t defend his positions.” When I commented that Webb wasn’t where Obama was on gun...

At a rally for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Roanoke, Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Vir., cited Sen. John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- and Obama's pick of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. -- as evidence that Obama would be a better president. "What is the one decision that a candidate for president makes before he or she is elected that clearly indicates what their judgment is?" Webb asked the crowd. "The selection for who is going to run with that individual as Vice President." "Do you really think that Sarah Palin is the most qualified person in the...

Virginia’s soon-to-be senior senator, Jim Webb, was the warm up act for Barack Obama on the Democratic nominee’s seventh visit to Virginia since clinching the Democratic nomination. Webb, who at one point was mentioned as a possible running mate for Obama, praised his colleague from Illinois for picking Joe Biden. “People know Joe Biden, and people know that he is capable in a moment of stepping forward and assuming the responsibilities of president of the United States,” he said. And while he called John McCain a friend, he questioned the GOPer’s judgment. “Now John McCain chose Gov Palin,” he continued...

The Obama campaign goes up in Virginia with its first ad featuring Senator Jim Webb, who offers a strong and personal defense of Barack Obama on guns and assures Virginians that Obama will protect our country's "greatness." We obtained the radio spot, and it's a strong one, starting off with an "important message to Virginia sportsmen and working families": Click To Play In the ad, Webb, a Vietnam vet and gun enthusiast, recounts his own gun history -- his dad gave him his first rifle when he was eight -- and goes on to explain that gun-love runs in his...

Muslim vote is powerful, group told Examples are cited in Dearborn BY ZACHARY GORCHOW FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER December 24, 2006 Muslims played a critical role in some key elections this year. But elected officials won't take them seriously if they don't continue to organize and turn out Muslim voters, two politically active Muslims said Saturday at a convention in Dearborn. If there are efforts to register Muslims to vote, educate them about the candidates and get them to the polls to vote for one candidate, politicians will court their support, Jameel Johnson, an aide to U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks,...

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia wants the Pentagon to freeze up to $300 million in contracts with companies the military is hiring to place pro-U.S. news stories and entertainment programs in the Iraqi media . Webb wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday to ask that the deals be suspended until they can be reviewed by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the next presidential administration. A freshman Democrat, Webb sits on the Armed Services panel. With the United States in "a grave economic crisis" and Iraq's government carrying a $79 billion budget surplus drawn from oil exports, "it...

Well before Senators Barack Obama and John McCain rose to the top of their parties, a partisan shift was under way at the local and state level. For more than three years starting in 2005, there has been a reduction in the number of voters who register with the Republican Party and a rise among voters who affiliate with Democrats and, almost as often, with no party at all. Jim Webb, arms crossed, at a rally in 2006, won his Senate race in Virginia with strong support from inner suburbs. While the implications of the changing landscape for Mr. Obama...

The US should avoid suggesting that the withdrawal of troops from Iraq will be followed by a surge of troops in Afghanistan, according to Jim Webb, senator for Virginia. Ruling himself out as a possible running mate for Barack Obama, Mr Webb’s comments come as an implied criticism of the Democratic party’s orthodoxy on Iraq and Afghanistan – including Mr Obama’s own stance. "The dynamic is that terrorism works the seams of international law. We can’t create stable societies in places like Afghanistan;that can’t be our objective.”Mr Webb’s background as a “Reagan Democrat” – the group of working-class Democratic supporters...

Authorities investigated the mysteries surrounding the death of U.S. Senate aide Fred Hutchins on Wednesday, a day after his body was found beside his sport utility vehicle on U.S. 220 near Fincastle. "We're just working to let the evidence go wherever it goes," said Botetourt County Sheriff's Maj. Delbert Dudding. One of his deputies obtained a search warrant to look through the downtown Roanoke apartment of Hutchins, who was 26 and ran U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's office in Roanoke County. According to the search warrant, potential evidence was sought that might exist in Hutchins' computer, his cellphone, his answering machine...