A proposed overhaul of the financial-regulatory system—bogged down in the U.S. Senate—shifts the price of a future rescue from taxpayers to business, says U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va.

“The taxpayer must be protected, and industry—not the taxpayer—must pay the cost,“ Warner said in a floor speech yesterday ahead of a key procedural vote on the reform measure. The Senate voted 57-41 to delay consideration of the measure.

Warner and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., both members of the Senate Banking Committee, wrote a component of the bill that forces the dismantling of troubled financial-services firms rather than allow them turn to Washington for cash.

Warner said that by abandoning the “too-big-to-fail” approach, taxpayer bailouts would end and companies that take unnecessary risks would be forced into strictly controlled bankruptcy.

He said that anger over federal aid to large banks, insurance companies and investment firms is so widespread that the issue has unified "liberal bloggers and tea-party types."

Warner, a multimillionaire who made his fortune in information technology, urged the Senate to proceed with debate on the sweeping proposal because, “The American people could do with a little less political theater and a little more action."

Referring to the growing consensus that Senate passage is likely, Warner predicted that far-reaching changes in financial oversight will become law, standing “the test of time . . . for decades to come.“