Blog - Articles Tagged 'AIG'

It’s none other than A.I.G. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Edward M. Liddy. I’m not sure exactly how long this has been planned, but, for Liddy, this is awful timing given the recent news that his company, which has taken $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money, is paying out $165 million in bonuses to their executives:

Washington, DC – Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (D-PA), Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing to fully examine the American International Group (AIG), how it got into its current situation, why it has received so much federal assistance, and how to move forward.

“The federal government has provided AIG with access to well over $150 billion in federal aid to protect the global economy,” said Chairman Kanjorski. “Unfortunately, taxpayers do not understand how AIG ended up in such a terrible situation, nor do they understand why the federal government continues to give it money. We must assess AIG’s progress, as well as how we move forward to ensure that any taxpayer money AIG receives is spent efficiently and effectively.”

I think it’s safe to assume that they’ll also be chatting about those bonuses.

(h/t @KagroX)

As David Waldman at CongressMatters points out, the scandal over executive bonuses at A.I.G. has set off a race to the hopper. The legislative solutions that’s picking up the most steam is Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s [D, NY-14] plan to levy a 100 percent tax on bonuses to AIG execs that are not related to a commission.

The bill’s not up on OpenCongress yet- we’ll update when it is. Here’s the text of a letter she sent around yesterday to members of the House:

Dear Colleague:



Like many of you, I was outraged to learn over the weekend that AIG is paying out another $165 million in bonus compensation. For a company that has required $170 billion in U.S. taxpayer assistance and is 80% owned by the United States Government, this is clearly unacceptable. That is why I will be introducing legislation that will instruct the Secretary of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to develop guidelines that tax at 100% any bonus compensation that is not directly related to a commission for any recipient of TARP funds where the United States government is the majority owner of the company. This will allow AIG to continue to meet their “contractual obligation” to pay these bonuses, but will ensure that the recipients are not allowed to keep this money.



If you would like to cosponsor this legislation or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or Edward Mills in my office at (202) 225-7944 or edward.mills@mail.house.gov.



Sincerely,



CAROLYN B. MALONEY



Member of Congress

Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake uses OpenCongress’s legislative version tracking tool to research the Treasury Department’s claim that Sen. Christopher Dodd [D, CT] inserted a provision in the stimulus bill (H.R. 1) that allowed the A.I.G. bonuses to go forward.

By comparing the Senate version of the bill to the final conference version of the bill that was signed into law, she shows that a provision to block bonuses retroactively on TARP contracts, inserted by Dodd in the Senate bill, was actually taken out by the conference committee.

Here’s a link to that section of the bill. Right now it goes to a blank portion of the bill text (because it was removed), but click “show changes” at the top of the screen and you’ll see, in red, the retroactive bonus blocking provision, reportedly inserted by Dodd, that was taken out.

Hamsher: “who pushed back against Dodd, and told him to neuter the provision? The ”http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123457165806186405.html?mod=testMod">WSJ says Geithner and Summers:"

The administration is concerned the rules will prompt a wave of banks to return the government’s money and forgo future assistance, undermining the aid program’s effectiveness. Both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, who heads the National Economic Council, had called Sen. Dodd and asked him to reconsider, these people said.