[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25012]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        AIG'S EXECUTIVE BONUSES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep outrage 
over AIG's plans to give $198 million in bonuses to their employees 
next March, especially after paying out $165 million in bonuses earlier 
this year. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs is on track to provide a record 
payout to its executives by the end of 2009 and other firms will 
undoubtedly follow suit.
  Well, I find it infuriating and insulting that these firms continue 
to reward incompetence and egregious risk-taking with taxpayer money. 
They have not only received billions in direct Federal bailouts to 
avert crises largely of their own making, but they also benefited from 
an array of Federal fiscal policies that have placed increased burdens 
on taxpayers and our deficit.
  These companies must be held accountable for their decisions and for 
the Federal assistance they only too gladly accepted. That's why I 
supported legislation to block these bonuses and to ensure that 
taxpayers receive a full refund. I will continue to press my colleagues 
and the administration to ensure that as Wall Street again enjoys 
profitability, American taxpayers also see some reward.
  I want to commend Chairman Frank and the Financial Services Committee 
for their hard work on the financial regulatory overhaul that is so 
critically needed in our country to prevent another crisis from 
happening. I anxiously look forward to seeing this legislation come to 
the floor very soon. It's clear that our financial system demands 
commonsense regulation, increased transparency, and improved oversight.
  Wall Street CEOs cannot run their businesses assuming that the fruits 
of success will be entirely theirs to enjoy while the cost of failure 
will be shared, will be the shared responsibility of the American 
people. Wall Street's compensation plans can no longer benefit top 
executives at the expense of their companies, shareholders and 
employees, and ultimately the American taxpayer.
  After all this country has been through, when we have an unemployment 
rate of 9.8 percent nationally, and especially when 12.8 percent of 
Rhode Islanders are unemployed, seeing that Wall Street has not learned 
its lesson is a tremendous disappointment. We have to take action now 
so that we don't go down this road again.

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