Monday, March 16, 2009

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Floor Statement on the Uptick Rule
Remarks as Delivered on the Senate Floor

Mr. President, I rise first to commend the distinguished Senator from Delaware, Mr. Kaufman, on a very appropriate bill at a very appropriate time in our country. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this legislation.

History teaches us good lessons and, as the Senator said, for 70 years, until July of 2007, the uptick rule served the American investor, the American banking industry, and the traders of America well, because it protected it from a very dangerous thing happening which happened beginning in September of last year. Everybody in this room will remember the markets of last fall. What happened is we hit some unsettling times. We in fact passed the TARP stabilization bill. The markets began to climb. I e-mailed Chris Cox, who was the then-Chair of the SEC, the position Mrs. Shapiro now holds. I sent him an e-mail begging him to please reinstate the uptick rule. They took a brief look at it, suspended it for a few days, and then let it stay. What happened was hedge funds and other traders coming in to cash in were taking the downward spiral of stocks and banks and financial institutions in the country and making money off the demise and the decline of those stocks, all because there was no protection so that they couldn't feed off a downward spiral. The uptick rule, as well explained by the Senator from Delaware, simply provides a cushion to discourage those who would exploit a dangerous and difficult market and make money at the expense of the American people.

Senator Kaufman has introduced a piece of legislation that is right for America, it is right for America's investors, and it is right for our stock market as it still languishes today somewhere down near what we hope is the bottom. One way to ensure that bottom exists is to stop rewarding those who would feed off of it and instead reinstate good discipline that ensures good practices and allows the market to restore itself back to a good equilibrium.

I commend Senator Kaufman on the introduction of the legislation. I am honored that he asked me to cosponsor it and I am proud to do so. I hope the Senate will expeditiously deal with it, not in the interests of Senator Kaufman or myself, but in the interests of the American people who are looking to us for answers in difficult times.