Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this rule and the underlying legislation.
The American people are outraged - and rightly so - at the news that insurance giant AIG has given large bonuses to some of its employees.
It is outrageous that a company that is being bailed out by the American taxpayer is providing bonuses to the people who dealt in these exotic financial instruments.
Those employees made bad bets, and now the American people are paying the tab.
Mr. Speaker, not many of my constituents are getting ‘retention bonuses,' these days - I can tell you that. They're not sure if they're going to wake up tomorrow with a job. In Fall River, the unemployment rate is 16%. The city is being forced to lay off police officers and firefighters. Food banks are at capacity.
And they are being asked to pony up ‘retention bonuses' for the people who got us into this mess? It's nuts.
I know that the CEO of AIG said yesterday that he has asked the people who have received these bonuses to give them back. And that's great. But I'm afraid we can't simply rely on their goodhearted generosity.
I understand, and I support, the need to ensure the stability of the American banking system.
We need to get credit flowing again. We need to make sure that people have access to mortgages and car loans and student loans. We need to make sure that small businesses have access to credit.
But we also need to make sure that bad behavior isn't rewarded with taxpayer money. That's what this bill is all about.
And as President Obama has rightly said, we must also put in place the appropriate rules and regulations going forward, so that this kind of financial collapse never happens again.
Again, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
