On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
Let me just mention a little thing more about my amendment. Basically, as I've told my colleagues, this is a cost overrun on renovations in the U.N., and more importantly, with this huge economic downturn that we've had, I think we need to go back and look at the procurement process at the U.N. I want to say something that's different from the U.N. amendment. I had an amendment, 429, dealing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This amendment was ruled out of order, and it was because the amendment basically did not specify the individuals whose defense by the United States taxpayers has been supported, would be stopped payment by my amendment 429. To put it into perspective, the amendment I had was saying that people like Franklin Raines, who was the CEO of Fannie Mae, and these other executives, while they were hiding huge amounts of debt, were collecting huge bonuses, including the board of directors of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and at the same time, the inspector general found that these people were hiding this debt, and now taxpayers have to pay for their defense and bail them out. But the ironic thing and the tragic thing is that taxpayers have to pay the lawyers to defend all these people that actually were hiding the debt and looting these companies. So my amendment is basically saying that taxpayers should stop paying the legal fees for these executives that were hiding the debt and acted illegally.
