Senate Report Card: John Warner R-VA

Senator John Warner is the senior Republican United States Senator from the state of Virginia. He assumed office in 1979, and was previously the Secretary of the Navy. He is one of the few remaining United States Senators who is also a World War II veteran.

Senator Warner is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also serves on the Public Works, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence. He is currently serving his fifth term in the senate.

Being the former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, he has protected and enlarged funds totaling billions of dollars into the Virginia economy each year through the state's naval installations and shipbuilding firms.

Warner is viewed as being fairly moderate in his views. He is a member of a small group of Republicans that supports gun control laws. He voted for the Brady Bill and voted to close gun show loopholes in purchasing firearms. He joined efforts to extend the assault weapons ban.

The senator is pro choice and supports funding for embryonic stem cell research. He was in favor of expanding hate crime legislation to homosexuals. He supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but did not support the Federal Marriage Amendment because he viewed it as being too restrictive and would have potentially banned civil unions. After Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Peter Pace spoke out about his anti-gay views, Sen. Warner was quoted saying, "I respectfully, but strongly, disagree with the chairman's view that homosexuality is immoral."

He was one of few conservatives to vote down President Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. He voted against the charges of perjury of President Clinton. He voted for English as the Common Language.

John Warner voted against increasing the Federal Pell Grant amount. He voted for the No Child Left Behind Act. He voted to cut subsidies to student loan lenders.

With regards to energy, the senator voted against subsidies for alternative means of energy, but voted for the Clean Air Act. He voted against a reduction of dependcy on foreign oil. He voted for off shore drilling in Virginia.

He voted against President Bush's Immigration Reform Act as well as the General Immigration Bill.

Warner was one of 14 senators known as the "Gang of 14" to forge a compromise on the Democrats' proposed use of the judicial filibuster.

Senator John Warner voted in favor of military force against Iraq, but has since become critical of the implementing of the war, and has separated himself from the White Houses surge policy. He voted for restrictions on troop deployment but failed to vote for the Iraq Redeployment Act.

With little funds for his upcoming 2008 reelection campaign, some are wondering if the Senator will seek a sixth term.