Kaine, Warner speak in Norfolk

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Tim Kaine, who is running for U.S. Senate and U.S. Senator Mark Warner met in Norfolk Monday to formally seek a compromise to sequestration and the looming cuts to the defense budget.

Kaine and Warner, both Democrats, appeared together at Grow Innovative, a downtown Norfolk marketing firm.

Kaine said he is hopeful his Republican opponent, former senator George Allen's ideas about the budget impasse, are more a part of the problem than a solution.

"There were two strategies a year ago around the debt ceiling situation," Kaine said. "One that suggested the nation should default on its credit for the first time ever. My opponent and a few others, they were loud but they were small in number promoted that point of view. That would have created a fiscal collapse like the 2008 fiscal collapse"

In a web posting last week, George Allen criticized Kaine's support of the Democrats' plan to increase revenues, alluding to defense budget cuts.

"Kaine and Obama are so eager to raise taxes that they are willing to use as leverage the jobs of more than 200,000 Virginians, as well as our military's preparedness," Allen wrote.

Warner emphasized cooperation and compromise in the midst of sequestration.

"We're spending too much and we're collecting revenues at a 70-year low," Warner said. "You gotta find a place in the middle."

Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee told WAVY.com from the floor of the Republican Convention last month that the House budget proposal is a step toward middle ground.

"We need to understand that we've cut almost a half a trillion dollars out of defense that is in the budget that starts October 1," Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-Ca.) said.

That budget was rejected by the Senate. Late Monday afternoon, Allen's campaign released a statement saying the former senator supports reversing defense cuts and replacing the revenue by repealing Obama's healthcare plan and unleashing America's energy resources.