[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 18, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S3324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  AIG

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the situation at AIG is an offense to 
the taxpayers, and we are going to get to the bottom of it even if the 
Department of the Treasury hasn't.
  Here is a company that has been taking billions and billions of 
dollars from taxpayers in the middle of what could be the worst 
economic downturn since the Depression. Now we hear that those taxpayer 
dollars were going in the front door, supposedly to keep the company 
afloat, and then right back out the back door into the hands of those 
corporate officials who got us into this mess in the first place.
  The Treasury Department was supposed to be minding the store. They 
had the authority to disburse the funds and to provide oversight. It 
was Treasury's responsibility to watch how these funds were being used. 
Obviously, they fell asleep on the job. The Treasury Department was 
completely asleep on the job. They need to wake up. Americans are fed 
up with their hard-earned tax dollars going to people who got us into 
this mess in the first place. They deserve to know how this happened. 
The American people deserve to know how this happened. The 
administration and the Treasury Department need to reassure the 
American people that this will never, ever happen again.

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