As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Warner is involved in efforts to reform the financial industry's regulatory framework. He believes a failure in regulation contributed to last year's economic crisis and the collapse of leading players in the financial industry. Recently, Senator Warner has focused on preventing systemic risk through the creation of an independent council that would monitor institutions before they become "too big to fail." He also has introduced bipartisan legislation that would provide a responsible, predictable exit strategy from the government's ownership role in several TARP-recipient companies, including AIG, Citigroup, and General Motors.
Senator Warner's Progress:
- Throughout 2009 and early 2010, Senator Warner teamed up with Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker to work-out a bipartisan proposal to address the notion of "too big to fail" and end taxpayer-financed bailouts of Wall Street firms. Their proposal was included in Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's financial regulatory reform draft legislation, which was introduced in March 2010.
- In November 2009, Senator Warner introduced legislation to create an independent agency to monitor systemic risk. He published an op-ed in the Washington Post in June 2009 outlining the details of the council.
- In July 2009, Senator Warner introduced the Resolution Reform Act of 2009, bipartisan legislation with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker that would allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to takeover and "wind down" banks owned by larger financial firms known as bank holding companies.
- In June 2009, Senator Warner introduced the TARP Recipient Ownership Trust Act of 2009, another piece of bipartisan legislation with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker to maximize returns on taxpayer investments into institutions that have received government assistance.