Senator Warner joined a majority of his colleagues today in adopting Wall Street reform legislation that sets new rules of the road for the financial industry. Warner, a member of the Banking Committee, has spent more than a year specifically working on the issues of ending “too big to fail” and making sure taxpayers never again have to bail-out a failing financial company.

You can watch Senator Warner talk about the financial reform bill on Bloomberg News here.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch also ran a story on Senator Warner's involvement in financial reform:

Warner welcomes passage of financial overhaul

By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Published: July 15, 2010

Richmond, Va. -- Sen. Mark R. Warner is welcoming today's final vote on an overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system -- an Obama administration initiative in which the VirginiaDemocrat played a major role.

Warner is describing the bill -- now headed to the president for his signature -- as "good work."

Warner says one indication the hard-fought measure strikes a balance between the needs of the markets and those of the public is that it's been attacked by liberals as not doing enough and by conservatives as going too far.

"I think we kind of got it right," Warner, a member of the Banking Committee, said from his Washington office.

The legislation includes a provision -- written by Warner and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. -- that ends taxpayer bailouts of troubled banks and investment firms. A $700 billion rescue by the Bush administration in 2008 is fueling voter anger in both political parties.

The new law will force ailing financial institutions into bankruptcy, requiring that they speedily shed their assets. No longer, Warner argued during the long debate over the bill, will Americans have to prop up with their pocketbooks businesses depicted as too big to fail.

With the new bankruptcy provision, Warner said, "It's like the Roach Motel -- you check in, but you never check out."

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a member of the Joint Economic Committee, said: "The financial reform legislation passed by the Senate today is an important step forward in reining in some of the worst abuses in the financial system and improving oversight and transparency."

Webb ran in 2006, in part, on a platform of economic fairness.

Here’s a transcript of today’s floor remarks by Banking Committee chair Senator Chris Dodd and Senator Warner:

SENATOR CHRIS DODD, CHAIR, BANKING CMTE: WHILE A RELATIVELY JUNIOR MEMBER OF THE BANKING COMMITTEE, THERE WAS NO MEMBER OF THIS CHAMBER WHO ADDED AS MUCH TO THIS BILL AS THE SENATOR FROM VIRGINIA. THERE ARE NOT WORDS OR TIME FOR ME TO ADEQUATELY EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE TO HIM FOR HIS INVOLVEMENT, LITERALLY ON AN ALMOST HOURLY BASIS. SO LET ME JUST EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE ONCE AGAIN TO SENATOR MARK WARNER OF VIRGINIA AND THANK HIM IMMENSELY FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION. HE DID A GREAT JOB.

MR. WARNER: MADAM PRESIDENT?

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: THE SENATOR FROM VIRGINIA.

MR. WARNER: I WANT TO THANK THE CHAIR FOR THOSE KIND REMARKS … WHILE THIS LEGISLATION IS NOT PERFECT -- AND NO PIECE OF LEGISLATION EVER IS -- ONE OF THE THINGS THAT GIVES ME SOME CONFIDENCE THAT WE’VE STRUCK THE RIGHT BALANCE IS THAT THIS BILL HAS BEEN CRITICIZED BY BOTH THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT. SOME ON THE LEFT SAY THE BILL HAS NOT GONE FAR ENOUGH IN PUTTING MORE REQUIREMENTS AND RESTRICTIONS ON OUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES ON THE RIGHT HAVE SAID THIS BILL GOES TOO FAR.

THE FACT THAT IT IS GETTING CRITICISM FROM THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT PUTS US MAYBE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE, WHICH WAS THE APPROPRIATE BALANCE WE'VE TRIED TO STRIKE SINCE THE CHAIRMAN STARTED THIS EFFORT WELL OVER TWO YEARS AGO.

I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT AT TIME THAT WE REMEMBER WHY WE'RE HERE TODAY.

TWO YEARS AGO THE MARKETS WERE IN CHAOS. PRESIDENT BUSH AND SECRETARY PAULSON HAD CREATED TARP, A $700 BILLION UNPRECEDENTED BAILOUT TO SHORE UP OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM. PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS IN CRISIS MODE WITH OUR ECONOMY STILL IN FREE-FALL. THE DOW WAS AT 6500, AND THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK OF NATIONALIZING BANKS.

WELL, CLOSE TO A YEAR AND A HALF LATER, WE HAVE SEEN STIMULUS AND STRESS TESTS. WE'VE SEEN A DOW THAT NOW HAS TOUCHED 11,000. AND WHILE THE ECONOMY IS NOT CREATING JOBS AT THE RATE ANY OF US WOULD LIKE TO SEE, THE TALK OF FINANCIAL ARMAGEDDON OR COMPLETE COLLAPSE HAS DISAPPEARED.

I THINK WE WENT INTO THIS PROCESS WITH THREE GOALS.

FIRST, THE TAXPAYERS MUST NEVER AGAIN HEAR THAT A COMPANY IS TOO BIG TO FAIL.

SECOND, WE HAD TO FIX OUR REGULATORY SYSTEM TO MAKE SURE THAT THE HUGE GAPS THAT EXISTED, THAT ALLOWED SYSTEMIC REGULATORY ARBITRAGE, COULD NO LONGER TAKE PLACE.

AND FINALLY, CONSUMERS AND INVESTORS HAD TO HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT OUR MARKETS WERE FAIR, TRANSPARENT, AND THAT THERE WOULD BE A COP ON THE BEAT TO MAKE SURE THAT SOME OF THE EXCESSES THAT TOOK PLACE IN 2005, 2006, 2007 WOULD NOT BE REPEATED.

I THINK ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING CRITIQUES SOME HAVE MADE IS THAT WE HAVE NOT ADDRESSED TOO BIG TO FAIL…

WE CREATED A NEW REGULATORY STRUCTURE SO THAT REGULATORS COULD GET OUT OF THEIR SILOS -- DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS ON ONE SIDE, SECURITY INSTITUTIONS ON ANOTHER, DERIVATIVES TRADING ON A THIRD -- AND MAKE SURE THAT WE MEASURED BE RISK WHEREVER IT EXISTED REGARDLESS OF THE CHARTER OF THE ORGANIZATION.

THIS NEW SYSTEMIC RISK COUNCIL IS SPECIFICALLY CHARGED WITH MAKING SURE OUR LARGE, MORE COMPLEX INSTITUTIONS HAVE MORE STRINGENT CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS, LEVERAGE RATIOS, LIQUIDITY REQUIREMENTS, AND RISK MANAGEMENT TOOLS. WE HAVE CREATED A TOOL THAT, IF IMPLEMENTED CORRECTLY, WILL BE TREMENDOUSLY POWERFUL. AND THAT IS TO ENSURE THAT ALL OF THESE LARGE, COMPLEX INSTITUTIONS PROVIDE A PLAN ABOUT HOW THEY WILL BE ABLE TO UNWIND IN AN ORDERLY FASHION THROUGH TRADITIONAL BANKRUPTCY PROVISIONS.

OUR GOAL IS TO ALWAYS HAVE BANKRUPTCY BE THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE, AND IF THAT LIQUIDATION PLAN OR IF THAT DEBT PLAN IS NOT BLESSED BY THE COUNCIL OF REGULATORS, THE COUNCIL OF REGULATORS CAN DISMEMBER, BREAK UP OR PUT OTHER RESTRICTIONS ON THESE LARGE INSTITUTIONS.

SENATOR DODD MADE, I THINK, THE DECISION TO MAKE SURE WE'VE GOT AN ORDERLY LIQUIDATION PROCESS. AND OUR GOAL WAS TWO-FOLD: ONE, TAXPAYERS SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO BEAR THE RISK. TWO, IF AN ENTITY GOES INTO LIQUIDATION IT WILL NOT COME OUT. WE WANTED TO MAKE IT CLEAR TO SHAREHOLDERS, TO MANAGEMENT, THAT IF YOU GO INTO RESOLUTION, YOU'RE TOAST.

THERE'S MORE TO BE DONE. DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION IS VITALLY IMPORTANT. THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT IS KIND OF REMARKABLE WHEN I HEAR FROM SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES THAT WE PERHAPS MOVED TOO QUICKLY ON THIS. THE REST OF THE WORLD HAS BEEN WAITING ON AMERICA TO ACT, TO SET THE TEMPLATE FOR BROAD-BASED FINANCIAL REFORM. NOW THAT WE HAVE ACTED, I THINK PARTICULARLY EUROPE AND ASIA WILL FOLLOW OUR LEAD.