Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to a report by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or SIGTARP, about compensation at bailed-out companies, bailed-out Wall Street companies, their excessive compensation. The report shows that the U.S. Treasury Department approved wildly inappropriate pay packages of $3 million or more for over half of the top 25 employees at certain bailed-out Wall Street banks. Executive compensation at AIG is particularly disturbing, given that the Federal Government financed a $182.3 billion bailout of that company. In 2012, AIG's top CEO was paid $10.5 million, and all but one of AIG's top 25 employees received compensation of more than $2 million. That one AIG executive who was paid less than $2 million received $700,000 in total compensation, which is well over 1,000 times more than the average American household earns in a year. Mr. Speaker, isn't it time for Wall Street and the Treasury Department to wake up and stop abusing the assistance they received from the taxpayer, and isn't it time for the Department of Justice to prosecute? ____________________”