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The Hill : We spoke to several members of the Senate Banking Committee about the Administration's plan to Regulate the Financial sector.
Erica Wisniewski : Are you supportive of Secretary Geithner’s plan to put more regulatory power in the Federal Reserve? And what about the idea of a new council being used to perform oversight?
Sen. Corker : I think all of us would like to see appropriate consumer protection. I think this sort of twin peaks way of looking at this, where you have this agency that in many ways could end up being a real stifler of innovation is of concern.
Sen. Warner : Too much power of concentration in the Fed in terms of systemic risk could pose a potential conflict with its primary goal of monetary policy. I actually think a systemic council that would have an independent chair that would include the chairman of the Fed, and the treasury secretary and all the day-to-day regulators. That sole responsibility was evaluating and preventing systemic risk is a better model.
Sen. Crapo : I do believe there is a real risk in giving too much power to the Fed in the oversight. I’m much more comfortable with the notion of creating a council for reviewing systemic risk and then having the council advise those other regulators, so we don’t get into a situation where we empower the Fed too much.