Warner calls for Dodd-Frank corrections in new Congress

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is eyeing the next session of Congress as a chance to open the hood on the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and make some tweaks.

The Senate Banking Committee member said Thursday that he hopes the 113th Congress will be able to take up a technical corrections bill to the Wall Street overhaul, and criticized the deeply entrenched partisan standoff that has characterized debate over the law since it was enacted.

"The political context is such that it is either repeal or nothing, which is an absurd way to approach any major legislative activity," he told the Bipartisan Policy Center, which was unveiling its new financial reform initiative.

"Congress never gets it right, when you're looking at massive reform legislation, the first time through," he added. "You directionally head in an area and then you come back, two years, three years hence to do a corrections legislation."

Warner, while saying he had his issues with the law as is, harshly dismissed any idea of repealing the law altogether. While some Republicans have called for its repeal, saying it is stifling financial markets with burdensome regulations, Warner contended that throwing out the law would throw markets into turmoil.

"I don't know what financial world [those calling for repeal] are living in. Nothing would be more disruptive to the markets," he said.

The GOP-controlled House has moved a number of bills that would tweak or otherwise repeal provisions of Dodd-Frank, but largely on a partisan basis. The Democrat-controlled Senate has shut down any efforts to make changes to the law.

---