Revolutionary War And War Of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act - Motion To Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the recent decision by AIG to pay out $165 million in bonuses. In a year when Main Street has suffered dearly, it is disappointing to see that the culture of greed on Wall Street continues to prevail.

Every American ought to be outraged. Every person who has ever paid
taxes ought to be outraged by AIG's decision to pay out such bonuses.

I returned from Wyoming this morning, and in the airport and on the plane, this is the topic people are talking about--taxpayers who are expecting value for their hard-earned taxpayer dollars, people who are asking about accountability, and people who are asking about oversight, saying: What in the world is going on back there in New York and in Washington?

While I understand that AIG has contractual obligations to fulfill, they also have an obligation to the American taxpayer, who now holds nearly 80 percent of the ownership of AIG stock.

To date, AIG has received nearly $175 billion in taxpayer assistance. Similar to any publicly traded company, AIG must be accountable to shareholders, and the shareholders here are the American people.

This money was intended to serve as a liferaft to keep the company afloat. It was never intended to reward AIG employees for the trouble they have caused for our economy.

It is insulting to all taxpayers to see that their hard-earned money is being spent to save a company that doesn't appear to be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to save itself.

Unfortunately, the same irresponsible behavior that got AIG into this mess appears likely to keep them there. They say it is a contract, but if the American public owns 80 percent of the stock, the American taxpayers are the owners. Therefore, I say, show us these contracts that allow for this sort of retention bonus. The American public, the taxpayers, have a right to expect to see each and every one of these contracts.

You may say: Why is it the Treasury didn't demand that these contracts be renegotiated when we sent that first pile of money to AIG last year, the $85 billion? The people of America get it, and now they say: Who is watching this? There has been a response letter written from the AIG CEO--the chairman and CEO--talking about this contractual agreement, this decision to pay these kinds of bonuses. He talks about his commitment to the future. He says: AIG hereby commits to use best efforts to reduce expected 2009 retention payments by at least--listen to this--30 percent. They are going to use their best efforts, so 2009 bonus payments are reduced by at least 30 percent.

Are we still talking about $100 million in bonus payments for a company we continue to bail out? Any American taxpayer who reads that has to be offended by this approach to say we are going to pay bonuses again in 2009.

He goes on to say in his letter that they cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and to staff the AIG business if the employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury. Arbitrary? Continued? Bring it out there and let the owners of the company--the American people--make that decision. The American public will say they want accountability, oversight, and they want value for their taxpayer dollars. It is not what the American taxpayers are getting today from AIG.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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