Johnny Isakson United States Senator

Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Isakson Legislation to Investigate Financial Crisis

Apr 23, 2009

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator and Senate candidate Johnny Isakson applauded Senate passage of his proposal to create an independent commission that would investigate the near collapse of the financial system and recommend action to prevent it from happening again.

Isakson’s amendment to create a Financial Markets Commission, which passed by a 92-4 vote, would create a 10-member, bipartisan panel charged with fully investigating the causes of the near collapse of our financial system. The panel would have the authority to refer to the U.S. Attorney General and state attorneys general any evidence that institutions or individuals may have violated existing laws. At the end of its 18-month investigation, the Commission would report to the Congress its recommendations for statutory or regulatory changes necessary to ensure such a financial crisis never happens again.

“When Enron and WorldCom failed at the start of this decade, Congress rushed to legislate and regulate without all the facts. We need to make sure we don’t repeat that reaction as we seek to recover from today’s financial crisis,” Isakson said. “The only way to get an objective evaluation of where mistakes were made is to create an independent commission of experts to ask what went right, what went wrong and what could we have done to prevent this. We need a forensic audit of the laws of the United States as it relates to the financial markets and our economy.”

The bipartisan Financial Markets Commission would include two appointees each by the Speaker of the House and the Senate Democratic Leader as well as one appointee each from the House Republican Leader, the Senate Republican Leader, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee and the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee. Members of Congress as well as federal and state employees would be prohibited from serving on the Commission.

Isakson and Senator Kent Conrad, D-N.D., originally introduced legislation in January 2009 to create the Financial Markets Commission.