Biden to deliver remarks at Sen. John Warner’s funeral

President Biden will deliver remarks at former Sen. John Warner’s (R-Va.) funeral on Wednesday.

The White House said on Tuesday that Biden will “attend and deliver remarks at the funeral ceremony of Senator John Warner at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.” First Lady Jill Biden will also be in attendance.

Warner, who served in Congress from 1979 to 2009, passed away late last month at the age of 94.

The Virginia Republican served as Senate Armed Service Committee chairman and played a critical role in military affairs legislation.

He led the GOP in opposing withdrawing American troops from Iraq in 2007, saying at the time, “What we have on the line is the credibility of the United States of America.”

But a year later, he criticized President George W. Bush’s administration for proposing a “surge” in troops in Iraq, saying he felt “the American citizens have given so generously with their sons and daughters.”

“Have we not fulfilled our commitment to the Iraqi people?” he asked. 

Warner also co-sponsored legislation banning the torture of suspected terrorist and opposing provisions to military commissions that were used to try war criminal suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Biden praised the former senator in a statement last month, saying, “The John Warner I knew was guided by two things: his conscience and our Constitution. And, when acting in accordance with both, he neither wavered in his convictions nor was concerned with the consequences.” 

“From fighting for international rules and norms to help keep the peace among nations, to his principled stances to oppose torture and support our Armed Forces and our national security, I always knew that John’s decisions were guided by his values—even when we disagreed on the policy outcomes,” the president continued.