LYNCHBURG, Va. – Sen. Mark Warner touched on several issues during a news conference Thursday.
He said affordable housing is critical, especially in parts of our area.
Warner and Sen. Tim Kaine recently announced $46 million in federal funding for affordable housing across the Commonwealth.
It will support 26 municipalities, with nearly $975,000 going to Lynchburg and $3.8 million to Roanoke.
“We see, particularly in southwest and parts of central Virginia where the housing stock has gotten so old and there’s nothing that’s been to replace it, means it’s sometimes tough to find appropriate living conditions that is anyway affordable,” said Warner.
He also wants to see lower mortgage costs for first-time homebuyers.
Meanwhile, after Tuesday’s Congressional hearing on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, where he called for a focus on threats from anti-government extremist groups, Warner said he doesn’t want to see the building turned into an “armed camp.”
He said he’s sad to see the fences and national guard surrounding the building and hopes the country can create a security plan to protect both those working in and visiting Washington D.C.
“We cannot allow the Capitol of the greatest democracy in the world to become off-limits to Americans in their right to come and talk to me as their senator, in the right to kind of see the part of history that our Capitol represents.”
However, he wants to see security upgrades, as the building was not prepared for the attack.
“Just getting the doors locked, where the visitors normally sit in the gallery, did not seem to be well organized. Where they were going to transfer the senators and their staff did not seem to be very well organized,” he said.