House Proceeding on Mar 19th, 2009 :: 0:13:15 to 0:33:15
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0:12:00 to 0:13:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Michelle Marie Bachmann

0:13:00 to 0:13:16( Edit History Discussion )

Michelle Marie Bachmann: weeks about these bonuses. senator chris dodd also said he knew about these bonuses. put the amendment into place but says it wasn't his language, it was the administration's language. this is a scandal that's brewing in washington. we need to have answers. the american people need

0:13:17 to 0:13:38( Edit History Discussion )

answers. this is their money that's being spent for these failing businesss. it's time that the american people know what the real truth is. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in outrage also

0:13:39 to 0:13:59( Edit History Discussion )

Dina Titus: over the recent news that a.i.g. paid out over $165 million to executives. some of whom are no longer with the company. every day in southern nevada families face tough decisions about their economic futures. can they afford to stay in their home? are they going to be able to provide for their children's future? i find it insulting that the

0:13:50 to 0:14:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Dina Titus

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Dina Titus: c.e.o. of a.i.g. said that his decision to give out these bonuses was difficult. difficult is trying to figure out how to keep a roof over your head when you have lost your job. difficult is providing for your children when your hours at work have been cut back. difficult is not deciding if you're going to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars

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Dina Titus: to irresponsib wall street executives. so i would urge cgress and the

0:14:27 to 0:14:47( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Poe: administration to act quickly recoup the taxpayers' money. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. murphy: i ask permission to ad minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker. on march 7 and 9 the young government of northern ireland was put to the test. two british soldiers and

0:14:30 to 0:15:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Ted Poe

0:14:48 to 0:15:11( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Poe: policemen were killed by fringe groups. trying to reach the future through a return to the past. they failed and the people of northern ireland became stronger. the people voted for peace and acceptance of the good friday agreement, the people voted for their first minister and deputy first minister who jointly condemned the murders. the people of northern ireland grew stronger when thousands of

0:15:12 to 0:15:33( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Poe: calt licks, protestants marched together as americans, as felt lovers of freedom and democracy, we are with the people of northern ireland. we are both nations of laws and can only survive when the law is upheld. god be be with the families who have suffered a loss and god bless the people and peace of northern ireland. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the

0:15:34 to 0:15:50( Edit History Discussion )

Ted Poe: balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from maine rise? ms. pingree: by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 257 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number

0:15:51 to 0:16:11( Edit History Discussion )

28, house resolution 257. resolved that it shall be in order at any time on the legislative day o march 19, 2009 for the speaker to entertain motions that the house suspend the rules relating to a measure addressing excessive compensation paid to employees of corporations in which the federa significant interest. the speaker pro tempore: the

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gentlelady from maine is recognized for one hour. miss pingree: -- ms. pingree: all time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous materials into

0:16:33 to 0:16:54( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. chair. i yield as much time to myself as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. pingree: mr. speaker, people across the country are outraged by egregious nature of the a.i.g. bonuses. it is unconscionable for a.i.g. to pay out $165 million in

0:16:40 to 0:20:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chellie Pingree

0:16:55 to 0:17:15( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: bonuses to the same top executives who mismanaged the company to the point of failure. it is fundamentally wrong to be rewarding the very same people who ran a.i.g. while it is losing billions and billions of dollars with risky schemes that directly lead to the staggering $170 billion bailout last year. it is a stunning example of

0:17:16 to 0:17:37( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: greed and shamelessness. and it is gross mismanagement and misuse of taxpayer funds that borders on criminal. people in maine, my district, around the country are angry. i have heard from hundreds of my constituents sharing their outrage. one resident of wells, maine, wrote to me in this manner, he said, let a.i.g. fail.

0:17:38 to 0:17:59( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: let those greedy blood sucking executives find out what it means to lose their life savings. you need to tell those that want our tax dollars, these are the conditions. clear and simple. if you don't want to use it for what we want, you will get nothing. he went on to say it has become a sad day in our history when we have to lose our retirements and give billions to those who have caused the problems and then in

0:18:00 to 0:18:21( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: turn give -- they give it themselves as bonuses. another man wrote i am writing to you because i am appalled that we as citizens and taxpayers have given billions of dollars to a.i.g. only to have that company give us all the proverbal finger and pay out $165 million in bonuses to their staff.

0:18:22 to 0:18:44( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: their conduct given their own monetary losses in the billions of of dollars is crime cal. the small businesses in my state of maine are doing what businesses around the country are doing. they are diverse filing, they are freezing wages, they are using their own resources adoptling cost saving measures, whatever it takes to stay in business and keep people in their jobs like so many businesses around

0:18:45 to 0:19:05( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: the country, a businessman in rtland recently chose to dig into his own pocket and use his own money so he wouldn't have to lay off his employees. just last week i met with the owners of a small machine shop that had been growing. they came to me with questions about how they could better use the money in the recovery package to stay in business just to stay afloat. they weren't looking to line their own pockets.

0:19:06 to 0:19:26( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: they were asking for help to keep people employed and keep their business afloat. these are the types of people who are stung the hardest by the a.i.g. bonuses. families and businesses in maine and acros the country are struggling to make ends meet and stay in their homes. and they are helping each other out of a shared sense of responsibility. meanwhile on wall street we see executives who seem to think

0:19:27 to 0:19:47( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: they live by a different set of rules and refuse to take responsibility for the damage they have caused. it's a perfect example of why we have and will continue to have a commitment to transparency and oversight in government. when the house passed tarp last yearefore i was here, this type of abuse is exactly what the american people were afraid of.

0:19:48 to 0:20:00( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: we knew there was a chance of waste, fraud, or abuse and now it has come to light and we are here today to fix it and will continue to forge ahead toe fix our struggling economy. i reserve the balance of my time. e speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves her time. the gentleman from florida.

0:20:01 to 0:20:22( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: mr. diaz-balart: mr. speaker, i thank my friend, ms. pingree, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: what concerns me about this scandalous a.i.g. bonus issue is that the obama administration was asleep at the wheel.

0:20:20 to 0:23:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lincoln Diaz-Balart

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Lincoln Diaz-Balart: two weeks ago the president's press secretary was asked is the administration confident that it knows what happened to the tens of billions of dollars given to a.i.g.? the response from the president's press secretary was, it is confident. yesterday we learned that the

0:20:44 to 0:21:06( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: obama administration asked the senate banking committee chairman, mr. dodd, to insert a provision in last month's so-called economic stimulus legislation that had the effect of authorizing a.i.g.'s bonuses. first, that gentleman who i just referred to said he didn't know how the bonus authorization had

0:21:07 to 0:21:27( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: ma it into the legislation. but the next day he said, yes, he authorized it after being asked to do so by the obama administration. so was the administration complicit? i think this is an issue congress needs to investigate. yesterday i made a motion on this floor that would have

0:21:28 to 0:21:49( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: allowed debate on h.r. 1577, a bill intduced by my colleague, representative paulsen, and the rest of the to deal with the a.i.g. bonus scandal. my motion was defeated but it garnered bipartisan support. every republican voted for it and so did eight demrats.

0:21:50 to 0:22:10( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: on what is a procedural motion, very interesting. although the motion failed, i am pleased that it attracted the attention of the majority leadership and they finally decided to take action on this scandal. so here we are today.

0:22:11 to 0:22:31( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: although i support the bills we will consider today, i find it quite unfortunate the way in which the majority leadership has decided to handle this scandal. the heavy-handed process they are using will block all members of this house from offering amendments. it will also block every procedural right the minority

0:22:32 to 0:22:53( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: has to shape legislation, including the moti to recommit. it will even limit debate on this important issue to a total of 40 minutes. why is the majority refusing members to participate in the legislative process, mr. speaker? this is an issue that members on

0:22:54 to 0:23:15( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: both sides of the aisle fee outrage about. so why not allow members to participate? is it because the majority is afraid of the minority's thoughtful ideas? actually, as congress debated the so-called was the republicans, the

0:23:16 to 0:23:26( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: thoughtful opposition, who advocated for transparency and accountability. but again the majority blocked effort after effort by the

0:23:27 to 0:23:48( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: minority to participate in the legislative process. th i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentlelady from maine. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield two minutes of my time to t york, miss maloney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mrs. maloney: i thank the gentlelady from the great state of maine for yielding and for

0:23:30 to 0:25:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Carolyn B. Maloney

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Carolyn B. Maloney: her important leadership on the rules committee. mr. speaker, it has become somewhat rare for the members of this body to find themselves in virtually universal agreement. but outrage over the retention bonuses for the very members of the a.i.g. financial products division who brought a corporate

0:24:11 to 0:24:32( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: giant to its knees economy of our nation to a stand still has produced such an agreement. it would be both morally reprehensible and fiscally irresponsible for us to quietly hand over millions to those who have cost this country billions.

0:24:33 to 0:24:53( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: and it is a rare cause that compels so many members a acting independently to craft bills aimed at righting the same wrong. the bill we consider now to tax bonus payments such as the ones in question at a.i.g. at the effective rate of 90%, sends a

0:24:54 to 0:25:14( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: message that cannot be mistaken. the game is finished. the casino is closed. i applaud speaker pelosi, mr. miller, chairman rangel ofhe ways and means committee for coming together so swiftly to react and incorporating ideas

0:25:15 to 0:25:37( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: from many bills. from my colleague, steve israeli, from gary peters, from myself, from elijah cummings, from many, many others, and coming forward swiftly with this bill that would tax at 90% the remaing 10% would probably be taxed by states and cities.

0:25:38 to 0:25:46( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: if a company receives over $5 billion of taxpayers' money and anyone earning over $250,000

0:25:47 to 0:26:07( Edit History Discussion )

Steven C. LaTourette: would be subject to this tax. so it moves the money back the american taxpayer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. diaz-balart: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from ohio, mr. latourette. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. latourette: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker objection. mr. lat sho the shock.

0:25:50 to 0:28:40( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Steven C. LaTourette

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Steven C. LaTourette: i can't belie that we are here and people are shocked. every person i don't want to offend anybody, but almost every person on the other side of the aisle voted for the stwhruss bill that had the provision in that protected, authorized, and aloud these bonus us. today they are shocked. when adam and eve were expelled from the garden of eden, they were then pictured with fig leaves.

0:26:30 to 0:26:50( Edit History Discussion )

Steven C. LaTourette: the bill t today isn't a fig leaf, it's a fig tree. ross perreault -- perot when he ran for president talked about the giant sucking sound. today there is another sound, that's the tightening of a finthersn both ends of pennsylvania avenue as people are into the -- explain who put into

0:26:51 to 0:27:14( Edit History Discussion )

Steven C. LaTourette: the stimulus bill this provision of law. specifically it's title 7, section 111, paragraph 3 little i that basically said that the bonus that is were paid out, the people are shocked about today, were protected and would not be touched. now, i think people have to man up around here responsibility. and i am happy -- mr. speaker,

0:27:15 to 0:27:35( Edit History Discussion )

Steven C. LaTourette: how much more time do i have? the speaker pro tempore: a minute and a half. mr. latourette: i'm happy top yield my minute and a half to anybody on the other side of the aisle who can tell us who was in the moon, who took out the snow amendment that prohibited this compensation and inserted section 111, sub paragraph 3, little i. anybody. who did it?

0:27:36 to 0:27:58( Edit History Discussion )

Steven C. LaTourette: was it some staffer? resee a senator on the other side of the capitol blaming it on the treasury secretary. we see the treasury secretary blaming the senate. and the last time i checked the secretary of the treasury doesn't have legislative authority. he didn't write it. who wrote it? what i do know is that we told you, how you give us 90 minutes to read a piece of legislation

0:27:59 to 0:28:19( Edit History Discussion )

Steven C. LaTourette: that's over 1,000 pages long? who needs to read the legislation. well, apparently today when the chickens have come home to roost and we have read the legislation and the democratic majority and the democratic administration authorized a.i.g. empyees, 73 of them, to get over $1 million. today they are embarrassed. and their response? it's a typical democratic

0:28:20 to 0:28:40( Edit History Discussion )

Steven C. LaTourette: response. let's tax people. it's unconstitutional what they want to do. it's wrong what they want to do. and if we let the mority of this house that does not believe in transparency, that made us vote on a bill after giving us 90 minutes to read it, that is now embarrassed by the firestorm that's been created and the finger pointing they are now

0:28:41 to 0:29:01( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: engaging in, we shouldn't be here. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of h . the gentlewoman from maine. ms. pingree: i reserve the balance of my time. t gentleman from florida. mr. diaz-balart: i yield to mr. mccotter.

0:28:45 to 0:30:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Thaddeus G. McCotter

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Thaddeus G. McCotter: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mccotter: i, too, am shocked at the shock. when the stimulus bill came through the house there were warnings from the minority party that we would find in that bill things would be egregious and outrage. but i will give credit where credit is due.

0:29:23 to 0:29:45( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: it is in part stimulus bill for it stimulated the bonus babies at a.i.g. because it protected and approved the taxpayer-funded bonus to that bailed out company. facts are hard things to disprove. every single democrat in house

0:29:46 to 0:30:06( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: that voted for that bill voted to approve and protect those a.i.g. bone -- bonuses. now that the american people know what was done, in my mind this is part of a deliberate strategy to keep the employees at a.i.g. who had broken the bank there to fix the mess that

0:30:07 to 0:30:27( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: they had made. they knethat this congress would not go along with executive bonuses being paid to bail out companies. they knew they had to have this amendment. it was dropped in the dead of the night. if you are shocked be shocked at the administration that put it in.

0:30:28 to 0:30:48( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: and something that is unconstitutional to try to cover or, shall i say, tracks on this matter. here is a sad reality where we are today. they passed the wall street bailout, the nightmarish of myself and pro nost indicators have creaded. we are trying to pass another bill in a time of cris that will leave no one, no one safe

0:30:49 to 0:30:51( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: in the hands of the tax man when the politses come to

0:30:52 to 0:31:05( Edit History Discussion )

Lincoln Diaz-Balart: cover their tracks at your expense. the public deserves better. the public deserves transparency. we cannot fail them again. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from maine.

0:30:55 to 0:31:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lincoln Diaz-Balart

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Ginny Brown-Waite: ms. pingree: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves her time. the gentleman from florida. mr. diaz-balart: p to the distinguished the gentlelady from florida, ms. brown-waite. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. brown-waite: a recent headline read that a.i.g. is a p.i.g. and that's exactly the way that

0:31:10 to 0:33:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Ginny Brown-Waite

0:31:27 to 0:31:48( Edit History Discussion )

Ginny Brown-Waite: most americans feel. the tarp bill, however ill thought out, was intended to slow the bleeding of our economy. instead, that money is being used to line the pockets of the very crooks that drew the first blood. you know it and i know it and the american people know it. however, what the american people do not know is who put that provision in the economic stimulus bill to ensure

0:31:49 to 0:32:10( Edit History Discussion )

Ginny Brown-Waite: a.i.g.'s ability to pay out these outrageous bonuses. i don't know the answer to that. was it senator d.o.d.? well, just yesterday -- was it senator dodd? well, just yesterday he said, no, did he it at the behest of the obama white house. the american people deserve to know who knew what when they knew it.

0:32:11 to 0:32:31( Edit History Discussion )

Ginny Brown-Waite: we all agree that the fat cats at a.i.g. should not be rewarded for their irresponsible actions, and we'll take care of that today. but there are bigger questions. this member from florida voted against the stimulus bill. however, most democrats on other side voted for the stimulus bill and it's amazing now they're so concerned and so shocked about a provision that

0:32:32 to 0:32:52( Edit History Discussion )

Ginny Brown-Waite: was put in the bill that they fostered that never went through the ways and means committee which i serve. we held a very brief briefing on it but we did not get to vo on it. we did not get to put any amendments onto it. and i would at this point yield to the gentlelady handling the bill on the other side, ms.

0:32:53 to 0:33:13( Edit History Discussion )

Ginny Brown-Waite: pingree, to ask her -- she had the opportunity to vote against it -- why she didn't. ms. pingree: thank you very much. i want to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that we ar to pass the rule to allow us to fix this situation. brown-waite brown-waite reclaiming my time. i don't -- ms. brown-waite: we're here to

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Ginny Brown-Waite: remedy something that you had