My Senate hero du jour – Ron Wyden
Ron points out he tried to amend the Wall Street Con Artist bailout plan to cap executive bonuses, but his provision was stripped out. He snipes at Obama a bit over the bungling of the Bailout II (which did happen on Obama’s watch), but I think the problem is still Harry Reid, the wrong man for the Senate Majority Leader position.
Ron and Senator Snowe are trying to reintroduce the provision as standalone legislation:
“… he and Snowe have a remedy: they are reintroducing their stimulus provision as a stand-alone bill, only they are getting even stricter with bailed-out institutions. Instead of capping bonuses at $100,000, they are lowering the level to $25,000. The law would cover all recipients of taxpayer TARP money, as well as those firms — like AIG — which have received money outside of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. And it would deal with bonuses issued in 2008. If a company refuses to give up the bonuses, the amount that exceeded $25,000 would be taxed at 35 percent.
“They are either going to have to pay it back or they are going to be taxed,” said the Senator. “And I think that is going to be pretty hard when they are already getting taxpayer money.”
Good luck Senator Wyden!
Tags: bailout, financial meltdown, Harry Reid, President Obama, Ron Wyden, Snowe