[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 21 (Thursday, February 11, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S570]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BROWN, of Ohio:
  S. 3007. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose 
a 50 percent tax on bonuses paid by TARP recipients, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, in the years leading up to the 
financial crisis, risky and reckless bonus-laden pay packages ruled at 
Wall Street banks.
  After crashing our economy, these too-big-to-fail banks needed the 
Bush administration and the American taxpayer to bail them out.
  The Temporary Asset Relief Program, TARP, pumped billions and 
billions of taxpayer dollars into the financial system to stabilize our 
economy and prevent another Great Depression.
  The Obama administration continued the TARP program while also taking 
necessary and swift action passing the Recovery Act.
  But unemployment remains high even as our economy begins to recover, 
and Wall Street is back to its old ways.
  Insurance giant AIG got $182.3 billion in bailout money. Last 
Wednesday, AIG paid $100 million more in bonuses to its employees.
  Goldman Sachs got $10 billion directly from TARP and another $12.9 
billion in taxpayer aid through the AIG bailout. Goldman will pay its 
employees bonuses worth $16 billion.
  The average banker at Bank of America got a $400,000 bonus one year 
after the bank took $45 billion from TARP. The average worker in Ohio 
makes just over $41,000 a year.
  The Federal Reserve has taken extraordinary steps and made trillions 
of dollars available in low-interest loans to American banks. Fannie 
Mae and Freddie Mac are just about the only buyers today for mortgages 
in the secondary market.
  Big banks received hundreds of billions of dollars from U.S. 
taxpayers in half a dozen ways to stabilize their finances and increase 
financing to businesses and consumers.
  Our economy is reliant on small businesses, which account for more 
than 65 percent of jobs created in our Nation.
  But despite the banks' rapid recovery, their small business lending 
continues to decrease, month after month.
  In November 2009, the U.S. Treasury Department reported that the 22 
largest financial institutions receiving taxpayer assistance reduced 
lending by $10.5 billion over the previous six months.
  These same banks reduced small business loans by another $1 billion 
according to a report released in December 2009.
  I have heard from too many small business owners--from Youngstown to 
Mansfield, from Athens to Elyria--that they simply can't access the 
credit they need to hire workers or expand business.
  For 10 years wealthy bankers were partying like it was 1999. When the 
economy came crashing down the middle class was forced to sacrifice 
their money and their children's money to save the banks and unfreeze 
credit. They are still waiting for Wall Street to live up to their end 
of the bargain.
  That is why today I introduced The Wall Street Bonus Tax Act, which 
would use Wall Street's excess to fund small businesses.
  The Wall Street Bonus Tax Act imposes a 50 percent excise tax for 
2010 on bonuses awarded at financial institutions that received TARP 
assistance.
  The revenue generated by the tax would go to the Small Business 
Administration to implement a direct small business lending program to 
help small businesses in towns like Bucyrus and Dublin.
  Wall Street's lavish bonuses were made possible by the taxpayers' 
money--money that was supposed to be lent to businesses.
  Instead of patting themselves on the back, the banks should be making 
loans that help the middle class recover.
  This bill is a critical step in that direction.
                                 ______