Senator Warner took to the Senate floor today to express his concerns about plans for the Federal Reserve to regulate financial institutions that are considered "too big to fail."  

The Obama Administration's plans for tougher oversight includes new powers for the Federal Reserve to be the nation's systemic risk regulator.  

However, Senator Warner said today that he has concerns the proposal would give too much power to one institution -- the Fed -- and could cause a conflict between the Fed's responsibilities to conduct monetary policy while also supervising the banking industry.

"We have resisted creating an all powerful central bank to this point, and the experiences of countries which have concentrated too much power in one entity serve as cautionary tales."

He instead proposed the creation of a "systemic risk council," similar to the National Transportation Saftey Board or the National Security Council.  This new council would consist of the Treasury Secretary, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the heads of the major financial regulatory agencies:

"A systemic risk council is not a silver bullet, but it avoids the pitfalls of entrusting systemic risk responsibility with one agency that has other missions that can be a source of conflict.

A council can see across the horizon and all information and expertise can flow to it, thereby addressing our stovepipe problem, without the conflicts that come from also conducting monetary policy and without regulatory capture."

Click here to read his entire remarks, or watch the floor statement here:

RELATED: A better way to prevent systemic risk  -- Senator Warner spoke on both Bloomberg TV and MSNBC's Morning Joe about his idea to empower an independent council, rather than giving the additional responsibility to the Federal Reserve, to regulate systemic risk... [read more]