You have to love Senator Warner. While meeting with community leaders in Martinville, the Sentor talked about his ideas for jump-starting the economy.  He proposed two little ditties:

The first proposal would tap $30 billion of unused federal TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds to encourage community banks to make loans to existing small businesses, Warner said.

But to show is how fiscally responsible he is, the Senator was quick to add:

Because the funding is already in place, Warner said, the proposal “would not add $1 to the deficit.”

Well duh Senator – that’s because it has ALREADY added to the deficit, helped along by your vote for the TARP and Stimulus bills last year. 

Our Senator’s second proposal involves – suprise, suprise – another federal loan program:

Under a second proposal, the U.S. Department of Commerce would create and administer a federal loan program to provide incentives to overseas employers locating in the United States.

China, India and many other countries already provide incentives of up to $12,000 per job to potential employers, Warner said.

Currently, “there is no state or federal program” in place to support jobs or companies moving to the United States, and states generally compete against each other, Warner said.

Broadband and other infrastructure would enhance the chance that businesses considering locating to the United States would look at rural areas, Warner said.

Under his proposal, loans could not be used to move a job from one state to another, but to lure information/technology and manufacturing jobs to areas of high unemployment or lower income in the United States, Warner said.

Interest-free loans of up to $10,000 per job would be given to state, local or regional economic development agencies, according to a release from Warner. Then, funds would be paid out to companies in two $5,000 per-job-per-year installments.

If the company keeps eligible jobs onshore, the initial repayment installment would be forgiven after the first year, the release stated. If eligible jobs remain for the entire second year of the loan, the second installment also would be forgiven.

Warner said the sectors of manufacturing and information/technology would be targeted because they often lead to other economic development such as suppliers, vendors and other providers,

So our fiscally responsible Senator’s ideas involve throwing more money and bureaucrats at the problems of Virginia.

But take heart, it’s not like Mr. Warner is wearing rose-colored glasses:

“This is not a silver bullet. It would not solve all of our problems, but we’ve got to have tools” when competing in a global market, Warner said.

He does not know how long it might take for the measure to be approved or implemented. Nevertheless, Warner said, “I am very, very optimistic we will come out of this economic downturn.”

You gotta love that last line.  Senator Warner, we don’t know when you will be defeated, but we are very optimistic that it will be sooner rather then later.

Read the complete article here.