Stand Up to Wall Street

Floor Speech

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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