[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14584]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        STAND UP TO WALL STREET

  (Mr. WELCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELCH. Madam Speaker, today, 40 of my colleagues are joining me 
to call on the Wall Street banks that are continuing to totally 
disrespect the American taxpayer to do the right thing.
  In a report issued last week, compensation master Kenneth Feinberg 
identified 17 banks which paid out questionable bonuses, questionable 
in the sense that it was multimillion dollar payments for no good 
valuable work. These are banks that did this after accepting taxpayer 
assistance. To make matters worse, six of those 17 firms have yet to 
pay back the taxpayer money that was the lifeline to keep them going.
  When the American public threw the lifeline, it was not for those 
banks and the benefit of the bankers. It was to stabilize the financial 
system and revive Main Street.
  Why is it that when it comes to compensation on Wall Street, too much 
is never enough? Today, my colleagues are calling on these banks to put 
paying back the taxpayer ahead of paying off their executives.

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