[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 48 (Thursday, March 19, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H3688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              THE AIG BONUS BILL IS A LEGISLATIVE COVERUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, today leaders in this Congress 
have hastily pushed through a bill with the direct intent of correcting 
a mistake, a mistake that could have been prevented in the first place. 
Let me repeat that. A mistake that could have been prevented in the 
first place.
  We've all seen the devastation that occurs following congressional 
knee-jerk reactions, and I am afraid that today's AIG bonus bill will 
not be an exception to that rule.
  I have serious constitutional concerns about our government's 
targeting such a narrow group of citizens with a retroactive tax hike. 
Regulating the pay of thousands of private citizens because of a 
mistake made by the leadership of this Congress starts us down a 
slippery constitutional slope. And what are our constitutional leaders 
planning to do with the taxes that they collect from this bill? It will 
probably all go back to AIG in their next bailout payment.
  My mama always taught me that two wrongs do not make a right, and 
this bill is no more than a legislative coverup by the leadership of 
this Congress. It's time for this body to instead address the problem 
that got us here in the first place: the lack of transparency. Lack of 
transparency is the true perpetrator in this high crime against the 
taxpayers. Ultimately, the taxpayers are not only the defendant in this 
case, but also the jury. And I think the taxpayers must serve 
congressional leaders with a clear verdict.
  It's congressional leadership who relinquished their promises for a 
more transparent government and instead steamrolled the ``nonstimulus'' 
stimulus bill down our throats, bypassing the regular committee process 
and refusing input from the minority party.
  Why are my colleagues on the other side acting surprised to find that 
a provision was ripped out of this bill that would have prevented these 
bonuses in the first place? In fact, that was even introduced by a 
Democratic U.S. Senator. They finally made the 1,000-page bill public 
in the middle of the night and then steamrolled it through Congress 
only a few hours later, all without adequate public or congressional 
scrutiny. This is absolutely outrageous. The American people deserve 
better and must demand better.
  They say that making legislation is like making sausage; you don't 
want to see it. But I beg to differ because these are trillion-dollar 
hot dogs that are being slammed and shoved down the throats of the 
taxpayers, and the taxpayers have to swallow it. It's time for 
congressional leaders to let taxpayers into the sausage factory. It's 
time for taxpayers to see what goes on here in Congress and goes into 
the sausage, and what's left out. Then and only then will we avoid 
coming back to fix mistakes that shouldn't have been made in the first 
place.
  We have seen bill after bill shoved down the taxpayers' throats. It's 
a steamroll of socialism that's being shoved down our throats. It's 
going to strangle the American economy, and it's going to choke the 
American taxpayers.
  Taxpayers deserve better. Taxpayers have to demand better. Taxpayers 
are not being treated fairly. We've seen bill after bill that's going 
to hurt the economy. It's going to cost jobs. It's going to create a 
longer and a deeper recession, maybe even a depression. We have seen 
people on the other side blame President Bush and they show righteous 
indignation, and it's totally misplaced because in this last Congress, 
110th, now in the 111th, and with this administration, we have seen 
bill after bill that's going to hurt the economy, that's going to hurt 
the American taxpayer, that's going to cost jobs. It spends too much, 
it taxes too much, it borrows too much, and it's going to kill our 
economy.
  We have got to demand more and better from this leadership and this 
Congress. The steamroll of socialism is being driven by Nancy Pelosi 
and Harry Reid and this administration, and it must stop because it's 
going to destroy America economically.

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