Posted on 03/20/2009 5:32:25 AM PDT by GOP_Lady
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette blasted Democrats Thursday for the removal of a stipulation that protected the ability of companies such as AIG to reward bonuses using federal money.
LaTourette, R-Bainbridge Township, delivered an impassioned speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in which he opposed the $787 billion stimulus bill and its inclusion of $165 million in bonuses to AIG’s executives.
He added that the bill does not undo the AIG bonuses or prevent other bonuses from being paid that were negotiated before Feb. 11, according to an e-mail from LaTourette spokeswoman Deborah Setliff.
LaTourette described the bill as “unconstitutional and wrong.”
There’s a “giant sucking sound going on in Washington, D.C., and that’s the tightening of sphincters on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as people are trying to explain, who put in the stimulus bill this provision of law,” LaTourette said.
He also demanded that the person responsible for the secret AIG language to “man up around here and accept responsibility.”
LaTourette introduced new legislation that will repeal the secret provision in the stimulus bill that made the bonuses possible. He said that the secret language that was slipped into the bill “basically said that the bonuses that were paid out ... were protected and would not be touched.”
He also criticized the fact that members had about 90 minutes to review the 1,071-page bill even though a measure required members to have 48 hours to review the bill before a vote.
“The leadership and administration yelled from the rafters that if the bill wasn’t passed in warp speed the entire economy and country would implode,” LaTourette said. “This bonus language is what happens when you rush through legislation with little debate and an irresponsible amount of haste and panic.”
LaTourette’s new bill, H.R. 1582, the Executive Bonus Repeal Act, has 30 original co-sponsors and undoes the controversial bonus language that was slipped into the stimulus bill. It will cancel the AIG bonuses and others that might result from the stimulus bill.
I might not always agree with Congressman LaTourette, but he is a good and fair man.
For years, his district started at the end of my street while Sherrod Brown was my Congressman. After the 2000 redistricting, the State of Ohio did a great job in redistricting, and he became my Congressman.
maybe if he had started swearing and cursing, coverage by the media would have been better.
Northeast Ohio PING, please! :-)
bttt
The gentle lady from North Carolina asks the gentle woman from Ohio[facts obviously not in evidence] why she voted to block consideration of a bill to recoup the bonuses.
http://thirdbasepolitics.blogspot.com:80/2009/03/mary-jo-kilroy-had-bad-day.html
I’m hot sure why the link in the previous post did not show as a direct link. Would one of you like to try to make it work? Thanks.
Thank you for that link to the video, fellow Ohioan, Loyal Buckeye! :-)
O-H
-I-O
When my 8th grade class went to DC, we met with Congressman LaTourette on the steps of the Capitol Building. Of course, I don’t remember a thing he said now lol
Now about the video, why am I not surprised that no Dem volunteered to speak when asked....hmmm.
I just copied the link and pasted it and posted it. :-)
Sometimes if you have text, the links will not be active.
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