[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H3472-H3473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE REAL AIG OUTRAGE

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, the previous speaker mentioned the outrage 
about the bonuses to AIG. That's not the real outrage. The real outrage 
is that taxpayers have given AIG $173 billion, and this amount of money 
was then used to funnel out to other financial institutions.
  After months of government stonewalling, on Sunday night AIG 
officially acknowledged where most of the taxpayer funds had been 
going. Since September 16, AIG has spent $120 billion in cash, 
collateral, and other payments to banks, municipal governments, and 
other derivative counterparties around the world. This also includes 
$20 billion to European banks. We never intended for this money to go 
overseas; the taxpayers thought it was going to AIG.
  This list also includes American charity cases like Goldman Sachs,

[[Page H3473]]

which received $13 billion. This comes after months of claims by 
Goldman Sachs themselves that they did not need the money. Then why 
take it?
  Mr. Speaker, that's the real AIG outrage.

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