[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 76 Committee Discharged House (CDH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 76

 Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding executive and employee 
 bonuses paid by AIG and other companies assisted with taxpayer funds 
 provided under the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the Secretary of 
                             the Treasury.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 19, 2009

  Ms. Kilroy (for herself, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Hall of New York, Mrs. 
  Dahlkemper, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Loebsack, Mr. Boccieri, Mr. Carson of 
 Indiana, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly of Virginia, 
    Ms. Fudge, Mr. Griffith, Mr. Massa, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Nye, Mr. 
   Perriello, Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Schauer, Ms. Sutton, Ms. Titus, Mr. 
  Welch, Mr. Wilson of Ohio, Mrs. Halvorson, and Mr. Moore of Kansas) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Financial Services

                             March 19, 2009

 The Committee on Financial Services discharged; considered and failed 
                              of adoption

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding executive and employee 
 bonuses paid by AIG and other companies assisted with taxpayer funds 
 provided under the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the Secretary of 
                             the Treasury.

Whereas the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, said in testimony to 
        Congress on March 3, 2008: ``If there is a single episode in this entire 
        18 months that has made me more angry, I can't think of one, than AIG. 
        AIG exploited a huge gap in the regulatory system; there was no 
        oversight of the financial products division. This was a hedge fund 
        basically that was attached to a large and stable insurance company, 
        made huge numbers of irresponsible bets, took huge losses. We had no 
        choice.'';
Whereas, on March 15, 2009, Chairman Bernanke said on the news program ``60 
        Minutes'' that ``we must address the problem of financial institutions 
        that are deemed too big--or perhaps too interconnected--to fail. Given 
        the highly fragile state of financial markets and the global economy, 
        government assistance to avoid the failures of major financial 
        institutions has been necessary to avoid a further serious 
        destabilization of the financial system, and our commitment to avoiding 
        such a failure remains firm.'';
Whereas the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have committed almost $200 billion 
        in various forms of taxpayer assistance to AIG for the company's 
        liquidity shortages, the purchase of certain assets, and to dispose of 
        other assets for an orderly wind-down of the company;
Whereas the commitment of almost $200 billion in taxpayer assistance represents 
        one of the largest Federal government rescues of a single private 
        corporation in United States history;
Whereas the Federal Reserve has committed tens of billions of taxpayer dollars 
        in a combination of facilities to purchase AIG's mortgage-backed 
        securities and liabilities tied to collateralized debt obligations;
Whereas the Federal government has taken a 79.9 percent stake in AIG in exchange 
        for providing financial assistance extending credit;
Whereas, under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the Bush 
        Administration and the Obama Administration have provided AIG with 
        access to $70 billion in direct capital infusions, which in turn have 
        been used, in part, to cover AIG's collateral for positions taken by the 
        company in unregulated and risky credit default swaps;
Whereas AIG's Financial Products division's irresponsible practice of not 
        setting aside sufficient capital to cover its exposure on more than $1 
        trillion of complex financial products, including credit default swaps, 
        have threatened the stability of the financial system and resulted in 
        substantial losses to the company, to pensioners, to investors, and 
        ultimately to the taxpayer;
Whereas, despite the irresponsible actions of AIG executives that threatened the 
        company as a going concern, and exposed taxpayers to almost $200 billion 
        to cover losses from excessive risks, these executives will receive 
        hundreds of millions of taxpayer money in retention payments and bonuses 
        for performance in 2008 and 2009;
Whereas, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Geithner, AIG CEO Edward Liddy said 
        that ``AIG also is committed to seeking other ways to repay the American 
        taxpayers for AIG Financial Products retention payments.'';
Whereas, in the same letter, Liddy said that ``AIG's hands are tied. Outside 
        counsel has advised that these [retention payments] are legal, binding 
        obligations of AIG, and there are serious legal, as well as business, 
        consequences for not paying. Given the trillion-dollar portfolio at AIG 
        Financial Products, retaining key traders and risk managers is critical 
        to our goal of repayment [to the taxpayer].'';
Whereas the appropriate committees in the House of Representatives and the 
        Senate have already convened hearings to examine the sizable government 
        assistance provided to AIG, and the House Financial Services Committee 
        has focused its oversight on the excessive compensation provided AIG's 
        executives and employees, among other matters;
Whereas common sense dictates that a company such as AIG that was so mismanaged 
        as to threaten the stability of the financial system of the Nation and 
        that requires billions of dollars of taxpayer money for its survival 
        should not reward that mismanagement through lavish bonuses; and
Whereas, on March 15, 2009, President Obama stated: ``In the last six months, 
        AIG has received substantial sums from the U.S. Treasury. I've asked 
        Secretary Geithner to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to 
        block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole'': Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that the President is appropriately 
exercising all of the authorities granted by Congress under the 
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, and any other Federal 
law, by taking all necessary actions to ensure that--
            (1) in the absence of a voluntary decision by AIG employees 
        and executives to forego their contractual retention bonuses, 
        AIG will repay taxpayers for the hundreds of millions of 
        dollars the company provided to executives and employees in 
        retention bonuses;
            (2) going forward, companies that receive a capital 
        infusion under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabilization 
        Act of 2008 that the Secretary of the Treasury deems necessary 
        to restore liquidity and stability to the financial system of 
        the United States are prohibited from providing to executives 
        and employees unreasonable and excessive compensation payments 
        that are not directly tied to performance measures, such as 
        repayment of the companies' obligations to the taxpayers, 
        profitability of the company, adherence to appropriate risk 
        management, and transparency and accountability to 
        shareholders, investors, and taxpayers; and
            (3) companies that receive a capital infusion under title I 
        of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that the 
        Secretary of the Treasury deems necessary to restore liquidity 
        and stability to the financial system of the United States are 
        complying with the letter of the provisions included in the 
        American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that strengthen 
        executive compensation restrictions for recipients of capital 
        infusions, such as limiting base salaries for executives to no 
        more than $500,000 per year, banning golden parachutes, 
        limiting bonuses for executives, requiring shareholders to 
        approve pay packages, requiring executives to certify they are 
        meeting the law's restrictions, requiring a company-wide policy 
        on luxury expenditures, and prohibiting compensation on the 
        basis of excessive risks that threaten the viability of such 
        companies, and adhering to all executive compensation 
        guidelines the Secretary of the Treasury may establish.
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