Senate Republicans brake rush to tax AIG bonuses

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans are drawing out a flap that has made the Obama administration squirm, applying the brakes to Democratic attempts to quickly tax away most of the bonuses at troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies. Sen. Jon Kyl, the Republicans' vote counter, blocked Democratic efforts Thursday evening to bring up the Senate version of the tax bill to recoup most of the $165 million paid out by AIG last weekend and other bonuses in 2009. The House had swiftly approved its version of the bill earlier in the day. By rushing, Kyl said, Democrats were letting populist outrage trump informed decision making in the Senate, which is supposed to be insulated from the pressures of public passion. "I don't believe that Congress should rush to pass yet another piece of hastily crafted legislation in this very toxic atmosphere, at least without understanding the facts and the potential unintended consequences," Kyl said on the Senate floor. "Frankly, I think that's how we got into the current mess." Senate Democrats said they will try again next week to take up the tax bill and hope to complete it before April 4, when Congress leaves for a two-week spring break. Combining the disparate House and Senate versions of the bill might have to wait until after the recess.

news.yahoo.com...

I don't know who the guy is who did this or what his intentions are...

I'm just thankful that this has stopped our Constitution from being trampled on once again. The whole situation needs to be investigated further.

Mob mentality should not rule.

Defend and support our Constitution.

To be honest I think they should just leave it be, take some responsibility and live up to the mistake they made by rushing this bill thru.

This whole mess is total BS the adminsration is trying to cover the Butts so America does not find out that they where the ones who allowed this to happen in the first place. This is total Hypocracy!

Thank god for the internet or we would all have tor rely on the MSM and be fed our daily does of Propaganda.

reply to post by Verd_Vhett


I couldn't agree with you more.

Let's have some dignity in all this....those people who everyone is calling a witch hunt on have families and children.

It's a contract...if it was allowed they have that right to collect...it's unconstitutional otherwise.

Hold Congress and the Executive Branch accountable for this.

Reid brought the bill to the Senate and introduced it before the Senate, a Senator objected to the bill, my Cspan2 link stopped working after that.

I'm glad the Senate has some Senator that have brains enough to knock this down, they seem to want to read it first.

Sen. Kyl is the junior senator from Arizona. I haven't heard much from him, until late. He made some kinda fuss during the TARP thing that caught my attention, in a good way.

There have been too many bone-headed plays made by our handlers that have come to light lately.

We do not, as Kyl indicates, need to rush into something that will spell disaster.
Usurping the Constitution in this manner would assuredly lead down a path that we do not want to follow.

Time for the congress critters to step up and take responsibility, as has Geithner. Doesn't make it anymore palatable, but nothing short of everyone
resigning, would. IMO

I'll give the guy credit.

It's probably political..in fact..i'm sure it is.

The longer this sits out there..the more heat Obama gets.

The longer the media sits on it.

At least the Constitution won a battle today.

Obama knew about this...he had too...and if he didn't...it's on him.

[edit on 20-3-2009 by David9176]

They way this issue should be handled is in a court of law.

If the government thinks that they shouldn't be paid bonuses then they need to file a grievance against AIG addressing the bonus issue. They would then have to prove that the contracts are null because the employees receiving the bonuses didn't perform the way the contract stated.

But instead the government tried to circumvent the constitution because the people at fault are close to being exposed.

Didn't congress just get a pay raise? A raise based on what? There great performance? Tax their payraise at 90% then we can talk about others raises.

Originally posted by Hastobemoretolife
But instead the government tried to circumvent the constitution because the people at fault are close to being exposed.

And you are exactly right. Congress and the administration are in full scale CYA mode right now. They're trying to scapegoat these companies in order to cover up their own mistakes in dealing with this mess. And believe me, I'm sure that this bonus scandal is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what we're going to learn of this bailout fiasco.

I've said it before and I'll say it yet again: there are only two possibilities for this government concerning its role in this crisis. Either they are incompetent fools or they are complicit and were the enablers in this case. There's no in-between.

While I think the AIG bonuses are distasteful, the government is stuck with them now. There's no legal recourse for recouping a bailout just because you find the means of the funds' dispersal to be unethical. Congress and the administration are the ones who have to answer for this, not AIG.


[edit on 21-3-2009 by vor78]