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twitterReid, Berkley consider steep tax for AIG bonuses
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | 1:05 p.m.
WASHINGTON -- As outrage continues to build over taxpayer funds being used for employee bonuses at AIG, Nevada's lawmakers in Congress are considering legislation to impose severe taxes – more than 90 percent – on the pay-outs.
Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate will have a bill drafted within 24 hours to tax the bonuses at the very high rate if the insurance giant doesn’t take immediate steps to renegotiate the contracts.
In the House, Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley signed on today as a co-sponsor of a bill that would similarly tax the AIG bonuses.
“AIG's attitude represents everything that's wrong with Wall Street,” Reid said. “Greed and perhaps even corruption.”
The Obama administration’s Treasury Department is coming under fire from Republicans for not having ensured bonuses would be banned before the company was given $30 billion, its most recent installment of federal bailout funds.
Republican Sen. John Ensign said he was not sure if taxing the bonuses was the right course of action, but said Congress should intervene.
“I don’t know the exact mechanism,” Ensign said. “I think the American people would say yea, first of all, it shouldn’t have been done in the first place.”
Discussion: 22 comments so far…
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Harry is a day late and we are a dollar short
Harry Reid allowed the Dodd bonus provision in the TARP.
We need to call out Harry Reid for keeping Dodd in as committee Chairman.
When TARP II was passed and signed by Obama - Chris Dodd inserted a bonus protection clause for bonuses that were contractually sign before bailout money was provided. This was specific to AIG who hails from his state.
When Tim Geithner passed out another $40 billion to AIG in Feb 2009, he did not add any restriction on bonuses.
Tim Geithner negoiated the original AIG bailout deal.
Cite the section and paragraph for that amendment, please, and a link to it if possible. I have heard that tidbit about Dodd a few times now and would like to verify it.
The Senate knew this for over a year.. the President knew this was in there. The yelling is to keep us from noticing the $165 billion included over $90 billion to American and FOREIGN banks, many of which received their won bailouts. All designed by then New York Federal Reserve Bank President and now tax cheat Secretary of the Treasury Gietner.
The crooks have the piggy bank and they are breaking it while we watch less than 1/10th of 1% because they are capturing the headlines.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets...
Dodd has denied that he put the "dates" in the bonus exemption language in the "stimulus" bill.
He is saying that it is big mystery how the "dates" got into the bill.
Hmmmmmm.....I guess we should blame Reid and Pelosi and all Democrats for they are running the show.
I am good with that.
LOL, Fox News? LOL! Dunk your head right into the koolaid. Make sure you come up for some air, jfNance32!
Reading the text of Dodd's amendment, it is VERY clear that language is nowhere to be found. In fact, the language of Dodd's amendment is pretty plain and clear.
You might try reading it.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/amendmen...
Huh. The word "bonus" shows up four times in Dodd's amendment. NONE of those mentions has a timeline of what bonuses would be allowed. NOWHERE in the amendment does it say AIG's bonuses would be allowed under a "contractual exception."
Nice job flunking a fact check. A simple Google search debunks this right-wing lie:
Well, no. Actually Dodd's amendment was to another amendment to the main bill, Amendment 98. Amendment 98 was a substitute amendment, so called because it wipes out the language of the bill or amendment it is "amending" and substitutes its own. Dodd's amendment to #98 did pass, but the original amendment was withdrawn later on.
The final bill passed by the Senate on February 10 was the text of another substitute amendment (#570) submitted by Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine. It did have the language of Dodd's Amendment 354, but the grandfather clause currently giving Dodd-haters the vapors is still not in there.
That language was not inserted until the House-Senate conference to reconcile differences between the bills. This was the next day, February 11, 2009, and funnily enough, that was the date used to grandfather these bonuses in. And since Dodd was not one of the conferees working out these details, it remains to be seen just how he was supposed to have inserted this language.
By the way, the actual conferees were, from the House: Obey, Rangel, Waxman, Lewis (CA), and Camp -- and from the Senate: Inouye, Baucus, Reid, Cochran, Grassley. Of these, four were Republicans -- Grassley, Cochran, Lewis, and Camp.
The only facts are the Dems passed the bill and Obama signed it. Dodd took the AIG money but will not admit he did it.
It is in the Bill
Blame it on Reid or blame it on Dodd - pick your winner and loser.
Let's review some more inaccuracies, then.'
"Harry Reid allowed the Dodd bonus provision in the TARP."
Wrong: Harry Reid may be the majority leader, but he does not have the power to unilaterally REMOVE amendments from legislation.
"We need to call out Harry Reid for keeping Dodd in as committee Chairman."
Wrong: Dodd's amendment did not authorize bonuses for AIG executives. There is no conflict of interest, nor is there a compelling case to remove Dodd as Chair.
"When TARP II was passed and signed by Obama - Chris Dodd inserted a bonus protection clause for bonuses that were contractually sign before bailout money was provided."
FLAT-OUT LIE: no such bonus protection clause existed in the language of Dodd's amendment. Furthermore, Dodd's amendment actually restricted compensation from bonuses, especially from companies guilty of malfeasance.
"This was specific to AIG who hails from his state."
A WHOPPER OF A LIE: Nothing in Dodd's amendment was specific to AIG.
Nice try, moving the goal posts, Future2012? Are you going to acknowledge the glaring lies in your original post?
I think the AIG domestic terrorists should be able to not only get their bonuses but Congress should back off and shut the hell up.
We as a country should have let AIG fail. They would be able to be split up and the profitable divisions would be allowed to keep going and the rest sold as scrap.
AIG is to big to fail, the sky is falling and we will be a transparent administration. Some of the biggest lies by the administration of change.
We have stopped worrying about the middleclass and are only concerned with either low income do nothings or high income idiots.
The country will break if this continues.
ksand99....oopppss....you must be mad at the New York Times and the White House.
Be sure to wipe the kool-aid stain off your chin.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/15/b...
"The administration official said the Treasury Department did its own legal analysis and concluded that those contracts could not be broken. The official noted that even a provision recently pushed through Congress by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, had an exemption for such bonus agreements already in place."
No matter how you spin it......it was a Democratic controlled Congress that passed it and your buddy Obama who signed into law.
HAHAHAHA!
I give you a direct link to Dodd's amendment, clearly showing your source as nothing more than garbage, and you reply with an UNNAMED SOURCE?
That's all you've got?
LOL!
JfNance32, please cut and paste the section of Dodd's amendment that allows AIG's staff to collect bonuses. Please cut and paste the section that "provides an exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009."
That's what you pasted as an argument, an article which is a complete joke, which implies Dodd himself is responsible for a provision added by a committee Dodd isn't even a part of.
LOL, you just don't get it. Rather than do a tiny bit of research, you jumped on the Michelle Malkin bandwagon and blamed Dodd for something he had nothing to do with. In your rush to judgment, you failed to do due dilligence, and now all I can do is laugh.
Apparently you don't even realize how weak your argument is, with the debunked Faux News article and the support of a brave "unnamed source!" That bright red koolaid stain across your mouth is unmistakable.
ksand99....You do realize that you are arguing with the NY Times or the White House.
Do you need the phone number to the White House switchboard?
You need to yell and scream at them for failing to due diligence. Be sure to laugh at them.
No matter how you spin it.......Democrats controlled the Conference and Democrats voted to pass the bill and Obama signed the law that protect AIG bonuses.
So if Dodd do not do it....then you calling either the NY Times a lair or you calling the White House a liar.
You are probably right.....those bastards at the NY Times and the White House lie all the time.
It is no big deal that Dodd is the recipient of the most money from AIG in the Senate. It is no big deal that AIG HQ is located in Dodd's state.
Those dam Democrats pulled on over Dodd. They slipped the AIG bonus protection into the bill and tried to make it look like Dodd wanted it. Those dam Obama staff members lied to the NY Times. Those dam NY Times reporters must be making up stuff.
So which is it?
Are the Democrats dumb for having a law that protects AIG bonuses or the Democrats crooks?
It is has to be one or the other.
I vote that they are just dumb.
This is a concerted effort by people who are absolutely ignorant to blame Chris Dodd.
There was a great post at FireDogLake destroying this entire Dodd/AIG meme. Too bad so many around here are so lax at research that they would rather perpetuate slander than figure out what is true.
http://firedoglake.com/2009/03/17/treasu...
And if anyone had taken a few minutes to read Glenn Greenwald, they'd know that the NYT updated their story and now gives a better understanding of the bill and what happened AFTER it left the Senate and went to committee.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2...
That correctly points out that Dodd's amendment was stronger than what the White House, and more specifically, the Treasury wanted to see re: compensation/bonuses. The Treasury led the fight to WEAKEN Dodd's amendment, and that was accomplished after the bill had left the Senate.
Unfortunately, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum thought there was blood in the water and leapt in without knowing all the facts. In their quest to slander Dodd, they forgot to look outside the neocon echo chamber.
OK......that is fine with me.
Let's blame Obama's Treasury.
Obama's and his staff went out their way to protect AIG bonuses.
Why in hell is Obama doing?
Does he has any control over his staff?
Why did he appoint that tax cheat to run the Treasury?
Obama made total mistake in appointing that Tarp I and major Bush regulator who fell asleep at the switch.
Obama should fire him.
Also, the language had to be approved by Democrats who where in charge of the conference.
Democrats voted on the bill after it came out of the conference in both the Senate and the House.
Obama signed the dam thing into law.
You can not blame any of that crap on Republicans.
Just a FYI, the White House is claiming that Dodd put the thing into the bill.
So I guess that is who theBS is calling Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
I'm glad you admit that your first post was just completely false, and that the story you linked which said Dodd inserted an amendment that had an exception for bonuses for AIG was just nothing more than a complete lie.
I don't know why you would post stuff that is false, but I guess you have a radical agenda and hate Chris Dodd because he is a Democrat.
"Just a [sic] FYI, the White House is claiming that Dodd put the thing into the bill."
No, "the White House" is not. An "unnamed source" is. Please point to a press release by the White House. You can't, because this is just another lie.
So, to recap:
The language of Dodd's amendment was changed AFTER the bill left the Senate. The language was softened, and the provision to allow bonuses like those contractually obligated at AIG was added AFTER the bill left the Senate, and Chris Dodd had nothing to do with it.
So that article you posted JfNance32 was just complete nonsense. So then you retreated and blamed the conference and the Democrats in the conference. Now you are blaming the Treasury and anyone and everyone who has a capital D after their name. You've named Pelosi, Reid, "all Democrats," Obama, etc. Pelosi wasn't even in the conference, for pete's sake.
It would be funny it it wasn't so desperate and pathetic.
The paranoid hatred of Chris Dodd is too much. If you're going to criticize him, at least hold him accountable for something he actually did.
"The language of Dodd's amendment was changed AFTER the bill left the Senate"
You guys keep saying this. It is impossible.
Usually a bill first passes one house and then a similar version gets passed in the other chamber. There is a conference to make one version. Then it goes back to both chambers for final passage.
Still....no matter what......DEMOCRATS controlled the conference and APPROVED the AIG bonuses protection item.
DEMOCRATS then voted to passed the bill with the AIG bonuses protection item in both the House and the Senate.
OBAMA signed into the law the bill that contain the AIG bonuses.
I really do not care which Democrat put the item into the bill at the conference.
I blame the Democrats who were in the conference and voted to approved the item.
I blame the Democrats who voted on final passage for the bill in the House and Senate including Titus and Reid.
I blame Obama for signing the law.
Just a FYI, the New York Times is reporting that a senior White House offical is claiming that Dodd was behind the item.
Wanna call the NY Times a liar? Go ahead and make my day.
I think its time for Dodd, Schummmmer, Reid, Peloski, Frank, Waters, obama to resign. They were behind TARP 1. Remember when obama set in his airplane and phone in telling Reid what to put in Tarp 1. McCain then called off debate and flew to Washington DC and obama high tailed it up there and made his demands in the Whitehouse meeting and all left. Well obama your chickens are coming home to roost and to be honorable as they do in China all you should resign immediately. We are sick of the rape of the TAXPAYERS.
Harry Reid was on Rusty Humphries Talk Show Friday night and Harry said Americans are sad they are not MAD. It time to tell Harry we are Mad as Hell
Call Harry Reid 202 224 5556 in Washington DC and Let him know how Mad we are with the obama and the SENATE
email him
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm...
DEFUND ACORN NOW
"You guys keep saying this. It is impossible."
Well, let's see here. I linked the language of Dodd's actual amendment. What ended up in the final bill was NOT in Dodd's amendment, ergo it changed in committee. Yes, bills change in committee. I can't help that you didn't know this.
I also like how you changed your argument.
It's not possible, you say... and then a few sentences down you say, "I really do not care which Democrat put the item into the bill at the conference." Which is it? Or are you just going to keep saying it's not possible AND you blame them for doing the impossible?
And you are throwing around so much blame, saying definitively that a Democrat put the provision into the bill in conference. Do you have a single piece of evidence of this, or is it ANOTHER accusation with absolutely no proof?
"Just a FYI, the White House is claiming that Dodd put the thing into the bill."
You have nothing to support that. The White House has made no public comment saying that Dodd put that provision into the bill. Instead, you linked an article claiming an unnamed source blamed Dodd. In case you weren't aware, an unnamed source DOES NOT speak for the White House.
Then, while FAILING to be sly, you changed your argument.
"Just a FYI, the New York Times is reporting that a senior White House offical [sic] is claiming that Dodd was behind the item. Wanna call the NY Times a liar? Go ahead and make my day."
I know there are many things that are difficult for you to understand, so let me explain this to you. The New York Times quoted someone. Now, they quote probably millions of people saying millions of things. Does that mean that everything that is quoted is true? No. The assertion that this provision was entered into the bill by Dodd was a CLAIM made by an unnamed source. It was NOT a CLAIM made by the NEW YORK TIMES. You continue to miss that very important distinction.
The New York Times has also quoted people who believe 9/11 was an inside job. Does that mean that the NEW YORK TIMES, itself, believes 9/11 was an inside job? No. Simply, you seem incapable of understanding that the NEW YORK TIMES, itself, did not make that claim. An unnamed source did.
Did the NYT lie? No. Did the unnamed source? Based on empirical evidence, of the language of Dodd's amendment, news reports at the time which said the Treasury was upset with how strict Dodd's amendment was, etc. No, I don't believe the unnamed source.
You seem so bent on blaming Democrats for every problem in the world, you are willing to ignore tons of evidence to the contrary and repeat the story of someone who is too cowardly to give their own name. You say changing the bill in conference is "impossible" and then turn around and heap blame on Demcorats for doing the impossible, without a shred of evidence it was done by a Democrat. You can't even name a name.
Thanks for the laughs.
"And you are throwing around so much blame, saying definitively that a Democrat put the provision into the bill in conference. Do you have a single piece of evidence of this, or is it ANOTHER accusation with absolutely no proof?"
The Democrats control the conference.
Are you actually saying that the Democrats allowed a changed by Republicans and did not approve of it or know about it?
Are the Democrats that incompetent that they are clueless of the changes done in a conference that they have absolute control of?
Democrats = incompetence
Hmmmmmmm....that is a tough one. You might be right.
"The New York Times quoted someone. Now, they quote probably millions of people saying millions of things. Does that mean that everything that is quoted is true? No. The assertion that this provision was entered into the bill by Dodd was a CLAIM made by an unnamed source. It was NOT a CLAIM made by the NEW YORK TIMES. You continue to miss that very important distinction."
There are only three possibilities.
The NY Times is lying about their reporting in claiming that a senior White House offical made that statement.
Or the senior White House offical is lying in his statement.
Or Obama has hired a Senior White House offical that is plain stupid and makes false and incorrect statements to the NY Times.
Which is it?
DEMOCRATS controlled the conference.
The DEMCORATS in the Conference approved AIG bonus protection item.
The DEMOCRATS in the Senate and in the House passed for the bill with the AIG bonus protection item in it.
Obama signed the bill into law.
There is absolutely no way to spin that.
Either the Democrats are protecting the crooks or they are incompetent.
I would imagine there's just so much the government can 'legally tax' someones income - here's a better solution - TAKE IT BACK COMPLETELY. I seriously doubt these bailouts were intended to be used to pay bonuses to people who helped the company FAIL. This is all so ridiculous and pathetic all at the same time. The American people have been made chumps of once again by our illustrious politicians.
So Hairy and Nan get a bill passed to tax the AIG bonus's at 90%.
AIG board of directors raises bonus to two billion dollars, pay 1.8 billion in taxes on it and the bonus "earners" recieve a mere 200 million dollars or a puny 10% net.
We all live happy ever after.
That'll learn em!
TheBs, Ksand99.....
Here is a bowl full of crow......
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/18/a...
"Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN Wednesday that he was responsible for language added to the federal stimulus bill to make sure that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money were honored."