Isakson Pleased with House Passage of His Legislation to Create Financial Markets Commission

Would Investigate All Factors That Led to Economic Crisis

May 06, 2009

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator and Senate candidate Johnny Isakson today applauded the U.S. House of Representative’s passage of a financial fraud bill that included his proposal to create a Financial Markets Commission charged with fully investigating the causes of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States. The House passed the Commission overwhelmingly.

Isakson and Senator Kent Conrad, D-N.D., introduced legislation in January 2009 creating the Financial Markets Commission to investigate the causes of the financial crisis. The Senate agreed 92-4 in April to add Isakson’s proposal to the financial fraud bill, and now that bill has also passed the House.

“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,” said Isakson. “I’m pleased our colleagues in the House understand the importance of making sure we don’t miss the mark, that we stay focused, and we get the answers to what caused this financial collapse. It’s what the American people deserve.”

The Financial Markets Commission is part of Isakson’s Four-Point Plan to fix the economy and ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated in the future.

The 10-member, bipartisan Financial Markets Commission would be modeled after the 9-11 Commission, which thoroughly and independently investigated the failures leading up to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and made sound recommendations on where we needed to improve to prevent another attack in the future.

Likewise, the Financial Markets Commission would have until December 2010 to investigate all the circumstances that led to this financial crisis. 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 investigation, the Commission would report its findings and conclusions to the Congress and the President.

This bipartisan 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 the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, as well as the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee.

The Speaker and Senate Democratic Leader would choose the commission’s chair. The Senate and House Republican Leaders would select the vice-chair. Members of Congress as well as federal and state employees would be prohibited from serving on the Commission.