AP - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures during a news conference, Thursday, March 19, 2009, on ... WASHINGTON - Denouncing a "squandering of the people's money," lawmakers voted decisively Thursday to impose a 90 percent tax on millions of dollars in employee bonuses paid by troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies. The House vote was 328-93. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate and President Barack Obama quickly signaled general support for the concept.
"I look forward to receiving a final product that will serve as a strong signal to the executives who run these firms that such compensation will not be tolerated," the president said in a statement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, told colleagues, "We want our money back now for the taxpayers. It isn't that complicated."
The outcome may not have been complicated. But the lopsided vote failed to reflect the contentious political battle that preceded it.
Republicans took Democrats to task for rushing to tax AIG bonuses worth an estimated $165 million after the majority party stripped from last month's economic stimulus bill a provision that could have banned such payouts.
"This political circus that's going on here today with this bill is
not getting to the bottom of the questions of who knew what and when
did they know it," said House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio.
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The bill is HR 1586
Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher and Julie Hirschfeld Davis contributed to this report.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/19/aig_ceo_says_employees_starting_to_return_bonuses/
Knocked off balance by the bonuses brouhaha, President Barack Obama is relying on direct appeals to the public to refocus attention on his ambitious agenda and drive the debate.
The president has shouldered responsibility for the mess and, in his radio and Web address Saturday, sought to put the financial finger-pointing behind in favor of his policy pillars — deficit cutting, overhauling health care and energy, improving education.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090322/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_budget
He will use a flurry of events to make his case, including a network television interview airing Sunday and a prime-time news conference Tuesday. The administration also is expected, as early as Monday, to roll out its plan to rid banks of their toxic assets and speed the flow of loans.
Being heard above the din may prove difficult. Lawmakers are wrangling over taxing people who got big bonuses and worrying the president's budget could generate $9.3 trillion in red ink over the next decade.
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Of course he doesn't want to see fingerpointing! Because the finger is pointing directly at him!
I'm understanding that part of his 'direct appeals to the public' will consist of his sub-minions (kool-aide army) knocking door-to-door in all 50 states to push (indoctrinate) his agenda.
These wishful 'game-changers' will be kicked off my property pronto with my camera at the ready.
Are you prepared for their unwanted, unwarranted intrusions??
Hey T Rob, I could not agree with you more. " IF" they get past my german shepherd, which I highly doubt, but if they do, I am sure my husband will have them running away like crazed people.
Hello All:
Just thinking out loud. The obvious question to everyone concerning the Supreme Court. How can a case be dismissed if the Judges on the court have never seen the case? Orly did confront both Scalia and Roberts and it did seem both had no knowledge of the pending cases. So with this latest incident on the fatal shooting the problem is real.
Respectfully,
JBH