AIG boss grilled by US congress
Al Jazeera English
Transcript
thank his company has come to symbolize all that's wrong with Wall Street CEO Edward litty has only been running AIG for 6 months but it fell to him to defend what many people see as the indefensible I have people in my district who don't have a 401k they they're out there working every day for for a you know a fixed wage and yet they and their sons and Grand and daughters and grandchildren and great-grandchildren are going to have to pay the freight here they don't have anything they don't have anything anything to do with Wall Street they're lucky if they can live from day to day ly said he's trying to do the right thing this morning I've asked the employees of AIG financial products to step up and do the right thing specifically I've asked those who received retention payments in excess of $100,000 or more to return at least half of those payments the early attempt to show Congress and the public that AIG gets it did not mify the many house members eager to show their disgust with the situation a company that needed $180 billion to stay afloat but then spent 165 million to pay bonuses ly said the bonuses are part of contracts already signed which he said would be hard to break that didn't go down well you could have fired these people to replace them with equally capable professional people that are currently unemployed on Wall Street right this minute each of these contracts is a complicated contract unto itself it's not you've seen one you've seen them all they're really all unique and they need to be properly hedged and balanced at the end of each day because there's so much volatility in the market if they're not you get burned another Target for the panel's anger the government officials responsible for monitoring AIG and other corporations I am disappointed Mr chairman that we will not be hearing today from the fed and treasury to discuss their role the American taxpayers being asked to trust government now more than ever there are already calls for President Obama to fire his treasury Chief Timothy gner but the president said The Feeding Frenzy would not reach into his administration ultimately I'm responsible I'm the president of the United States we've got a big mess that we're having to clean up uh nobody here drafted those contracts uh nobody here uh was responsible for supervising AIG and allowing themselves to put the economy at risk the display of anger and frustration made for good political theater but now it's up to Congress to find the will to make the regulatory changes to prevent another AIG from happening Rosalyn Jordan Al jazer Washington
Liddy: would never have approved contracts; payments distasteful
Associated Press
Transcript
AIG has made a set of retention payments to employees based upon a compensation system that prior management put in place at the end of '07 and the beginning of 2008. Payments were made to employees in the financial products unit that caused many of AI AIG's problems. And Americans are asking quite simply, why pay these people anything at all? Here's why. I'm trying desperately to prevent an uncontrolled collapse of that business. This is the only way to improve AIG's ability to pay taxpayers back quickly and completely and the only way to avoid a systemic shock to the economy that the US government help was meant to relieve. Make no mistake, had I been CEO at the time, I would never have approved the retention contracts that were put in place over a year ago. It was distasteful to have to make these payments, but we concluded that the risks to the company and therefore the financial system in the economy were unacceptably high. And if not paid, we ran the risk that we would have happen what everyone has worked so hard thus far not to have happen. That said, we've heard the American uh people loudly and clearly these past few days. The payment of large bonuses to people in the very unit that caused so much of AIG's financial trouble does not sit well with the American taxpayer in any way, shape, or form, and for a good reason. Accordingly, this morning, I've asked the employees of AIG Financial Products to step up and do the right thing. Specifically, I've asked those who receive retention payments in excess of $100,000 or more to return at least half of those payments. Some have already stepped forward and offered to give up 100% of their payments.
AIG CEO: Employees Starting to Return Bonuses
Associated Press
Transcript
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you God I do as he went before lawmakers AIG CEO Edward litty had already heard them blast the bonuses that were given to dozens of his company's Executives and I think AIG now stands for arrogance incompetence and greed the taxpayer knows that they are the ultimate sucker on the list of who pays for all of the greed that has been going on in the market place for years and years ly told lawmakers the anger of the American public Was Heard loud and clear I've asked those who received retention payments in excess of $100,000 or more to return at least half of those payments some have already stepped forward and offered to give up 100% of their payments but lydy didn't want to turn over a list of the names of employees who got the money and he read some threats that have been received all the executives and their family should be exec Ed with piano wire around their necks as he left for California President Barack Obama said his administration is doing its best to clean up the mess a situation where excess greed excess compensation excess risk-taking have all made us vulnerable and left us holding the bank meanwhile the house is set to consider a tax of 90% on bonuses paid out by AIG and other companies that got more than $5 billion in federal bailout money insurance companies for the most part are regulated by the states many of those companies are now moving into complex financial investments those moves coupled with the AIG debacle have raised questions about the possible need for Federal Regulation of the industry Jerry bodlander the Associated Press Capitol Hill
AIG $170B bailout; Liddy before House Financial Services Wed.
Associated Press
Transcript
lawmakers are set to give AIG Chief Edward lyy an earful Wednesday when he appears on Capitol Hill before the house Financial Services committee L is at the center of a firestorm over more than $200 million in bonuses the insurance giant is paid to keep employees from fleeing its troubled Financial products division AIG has gotten 170 billion in government help and taxpayers now own 80% of the company I think the time has come to exercise our ownership rights we own most of the company and then say as owner no I'm not paying you the B you didn't perform if Mr ly does nothing we will act and we will take this money back and return it to its rightful owners the American taxpayers some of the ideas being floated about in Congress include taxing the bonuses at a high rate to get some of the cash back Republicans are trying to lay the blame at the Obama Administration doorstep and treasury secretary Tim gutner who they say should have put a stop to the bonuses before giving AIG any more money Obama says he's doing what he can to get the money returned in the last 6 months AIG has received substantial sums from the US Treasury and I've asked secretary gner to use that leverage and pursue every single legal Avenue to block these bonuses gner says he understands the anger at lyy but calls it unjustified ly says he doesn't like the bonuses but the deals were cut before he came aboard at AIG his hands are tied Brian Thomas the Associated Press
AIG Hearing Begins on Capitol Hill
Associated Press
Transcript
uh I do believe that it is time for us to assert our ownership rights under this Arrangement the bonuses are wholly unjustified and they are an example of the problem with the financial incentive that the incentives that the compensation gives in general this is an issue that many of us raised in 2006 when we were in the minority we brought it up again in 2007 in the majority we brought to the floor a bill on executive compensation it was just the beginning it was very strongly opposed by most on the other side um the problem is the not the dollar amount but the incentive structure it's a heads they win Tails they break even we will also be asking Mr lyy to give us the names of the recipients uh they have sent us some information under the confidentiality rules I've spoken to Chairman korski about this we will be asking for the names if Mr ly declines to give us the names then I will uh convene the committee to vote a subpoena for the names uh so we do intend to uh use our power to get the names of the people here as unpopular as it may be uh I think the best opportunity that we have is to let that new team at AIG we're all upset over the bonuses the bonuses were awarded and signed as contracts in 2007 long before Mr lyy and the new team was in play and we're justifiedly angry at him for maybe not doing a better job of getting out of it but he came in after the collapse of AIG with a $1 salary and you can vilify this new management team if it makes you feel better but resolving a company as large and as complex as AIG is no easy task it was in a mess and it will require a lot of good fortune it will require an economic recovery and that's what they're doing now they're unraveling the deals they're shutting down this financial products division that has caused all of us heartbreak and and harm and that's going to take time the people who set the policies that brought AIG to the brink of total collaps are gone we need to give this new management team the time it needs to get the job done
Americans Express Anger Over AIG Bonuses
Associated Press
Transcript
well let's feel that they should be held accountable um i don't feel that the money that was supposed to been given back to the people should have been used toward their financial gain i mean you just don't know who to trust anymore um it just make you want to go back to the old days put your money on that mattress and that's how i feel i'm an attorney so i'd like to wait and see exactly what the contract situation is i'm not happy about it i wish that wasn't the situation but um i'd wait and see what the testimony is you have patience right yeah uh yeah i mean it's a sticky situation so i voted for obama i really don't like the heat that's coming down in the administration because of this
March 17: Wall Street Resumes Rally
Associated Press
Transcript
investors restarted wall street's rally tuesday buying financial and home builder stocks following a surprisingly upbeat report on housing the government's report the new home construction jumped 22 percent in february more than offset concerns that alcoa is cutting its dividend and nokia is laying off 1700 workers the construction report didn't signal the housing market is necessarily recovering but some traders saw it as the latest ray of good news that has brightened the mood on wall street the dow jones industrial average rose 179 points and the session at 7 396 the standard poor's 500 rose 24 to 778 while the nasdaq jumped 58 to 1462. stocks surged last week in a four session rally the left market barometers up about 10 percent the type of gains they might normally take a year to assemble buyers stepped in again tuesday after stocks posted moderate declines monday mark hamrick the associated press
March 18: Stocks Jump on Fed Report
Associated Press
Transcript
the Federal Reserve kept wall Street's big rally alive giving the treasury market a boost as well the FED announced Wednesday will pump an additional trillion dollars into the economy including the purchase of up to 300 billion dollars of long-term treasury Securities over the next 6 months word of that decision sent government bonds and stock soaring investors expect the move to drive down borrowing costs for everything from mortgages to credit cards analy say the move is likely to produce an immediate drop in mortgage rates from a quar per to as much as a half percentage Point that's great news for those borrowers with good incomes and healthy credit scores who are able to qualify for a loan the Dow Jones Industrial Average Rose 91 points and the session at 7487 the standard of pores 500 Index added 16 to 794 and the NASDAQ Rose 29 to, 1491 the fed's announcement accompanied its decision to keep interest rates at historically low levels it also reiterated chairman Ben beran's prediction the government step should return the economy to sustainable growth Mark Hammer the Associated Press
Obama Standing by Geithner in AIG Fiasco
Associated Press
Transcript
with anger mounting over the bonuses awarded to AIG Executives the president is defending his administration's handling of the Fiasco nobody here drafted those contracts uh nobody here uh was responsible for supervising AIG and allowing themselves to put the economy at risk AIG paid out 165 million in bonuses last weekend the federal government has propped up the failed insurance giant with $170 billion in taxpayer money an angry President says the buck stops with him ultimately I'm responsible I'm the president of the United States the questions in Washington are about who knew about the bonuses and when they knew it and many of those questions are being aimed at treasury secretary Timothy gner but the president is making clear that at least for now he's standing by his secretary nobody's working harder than this guy uh you know he is making uh all the Right Moves In terms of uh playing a bad hand despite assurances from the president some have speculated that G's job could be in danger in part because he couldn't persuade AIG to cancel the payouts at least one Republican on Capital Hill has called for G's resignation Julie Pace the Associated Press the White House
Obama: AIG Bonuses Inappropriate
Associated Press
Transcript
obviously the whole issue of aig and these bonuses that have been paid out have been consuming a lot of attention and rightfully so because they represent what i think all of us consider an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds but what i think is also important and just as outrageous is the fact that we find ourselves in a situation where we're having to clean up after aig's mess and so i just had a meeting with my economic team but also spoke with chairman barney frank of the financial services committee about the importance of giving ourselves tools to prevent ourselves from getting in a situation where an aig can pose such enormous vulnerabilities to the system as a whole and what we are working on is a resolution authority that would be similar not identical but similar to the powers that the fdic currently has over banks
Prosecutors Charge Madoff Accountant With Fraud
Associated Press
Transcript
now that Bernard Madoff is behind bars Federal authorities are turning their attention to those who they believe helped him build thousands of investors Wednesday they arrested madoff's longtime accountant on fraud charges 49 year old David freeling is accused of helping Madoff cheat nearly 5 000 investors out of billions of dollars in the past two decades freeling is the first person to be arrested since the Madoff Scandal broke in December freeling ran an accounting office in a nondescript Suburban building north of New York City experts say it would be Preposterous for such a tiny firm to properly audit an operation the size of madoffs drilling is charged with Securities fraud aiding in a betting investment advisor fraud and filing false audit reports with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission Matt Friedman the Associated Press
Barney Frank Slams AIG
CBS
Transcript
now also from Washington Congressman Barney Frank chairman of the house finance committee good morning to you representative Frank good morning in this letter that we have from secretary Geithner to speaker Pelosi he says that he plans to recoup the 165 million in bonuses by taking it out of the 30 billion that we're giving AIG is that an adequate solution in your view even though it allows these Executives to keep their bonuses no and we're not stopping at that they're going to be multiple attacks here but one thing I want to note is and we want to reassure people we have prevented this thing sort of thing from happening again in the money that is now being given out this is money that was given out by the Federal Reserve last September it wasn't part of the Congressional vote that made money available and it had no conditions we have since then gotten tougher on conditions to the point where a number of banks that are getting the money under the new program say they don't want anymore and want to give it back because of the conditions will take it in this case though we are going to pursue them there will be tax questions I do not give up on the legal question well if Mr midi said you alluded to this in the open that he had to pay these and he wanted to retain people well when he gave that second reason that leads me to believe that he may have had some discretion there and the notion that you wanted to retain these people uh some of them before the left Frankie I think we're better off with them having left these are the people who made the mistakes I don't want to retain them and another thing are bonuses when they left 33.6 million dollars for 52 people who left the country right as I said that's that's that obviously undercuts this argument that they were for retention um we are going to be pursuing the effort look the federal government is a major owner of this company by the actions that the Federal Reserve and others took to put up the money we're the owners we're not just The Regulators I believe we have a right to say as the people who are in effect on the company no you didn't earn a bonus part of this though as we go to get the money back from from these individuals it's a a signal that we have to do what I've been trying to do reform compensation in general and I want to look at who made the decision to put into place they say we're contractually obligated well who signed those contracts on behalf of the company who is the government didn't vet this company well enough before it gave the money to address the issue of bonuses before that's right the Federal Reserve the Federal Reserve in September came to the Congress and said under a statute that dated from 19 32 they were going to provide the 85 billion dollars there was no Congressional involvement the push Administration was supportive but it was a federal reserve decision in what we have done since we have put strict rules in but this was a we were not asked by the Federal Reserve we weren't consulted we were told they were going to put the money in but it is part of a need for us to look at compensation structures in general you have too much of this going on in the financial Committee in particular where people get bonuses if things go well and pay no penalty if they go badly so they take too much risk it is responsible here in government you said the Federal Reserve did this is Ben Bernanke is it Hank Paulson before him well no Hank Paulson has never been the head of the Federal Reserve Hank Paulson was the Secretary of the Treasury Federal Reserve is it Veterinary blaming I'm sorry can I finish the sentence go ahead it's not the you know there's some complexity a statute was passed in 1932 during the Depression on the Herbert Hoover which gave the Federal Reserve the power to lend money to any entity in America wanted to if it felt it was necessary that hadn't been used for many years in September Mr Bernanke as the head of the Federal Reserve came to us and said we think we uh have a terrible problem here we are going to provide 85 billion dollars to AIG that's that was the decision it wasn't anything that Congress had any say over now it is my hope that before too much further we will amend that statute that's far too much power for them to have but at the time that they told us it was a fatal complete all right Congressman Barney Frank thank you very much for your time thank you
Fury Over AIG Bonuses
CBS
Transcript
aig latest bon BB ISES across Washington a financial serves Un That's The Un that engineered The Company downfall All just got bonus checks Worth A Million or More Seven of them received More Than Million including person got More Than 6.4 new general andw Mass bar Frank FR per aig calls The bonuses retention pays ands They Vital Holding On Top Talent Buts that ofs Who got a million or More are no longer even working at aig Today a of lawak introduced B that tax 160 Million in Bones at 90 or even 100 Why treasury a billion More ba funds afternoon a Ban Proposal emed in theate that would imp a 70 tax On These bonuses 35 to be paid By The Company 35 to be paid by the bonus recipients The senate Believes that this will pass Legal muster rust and They hope to put into Law as soon as Nancy ctis on Capital h Thank you Nancy
Geithner Under Scrutiny
CBS
Transcript
also in the hot seat over the AIG bonuses treasury secretary Timothy gner CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill plant joins us with that end of the story Bill good morning good morning Julie the White House has done its best to keep the president removed from this they told us yesterday that the president didn't learn that these bonuses were paid out until the day before it happened last week and meanwhile as you mentioned treasury secretary Timothy gner is being touched by this storm and the buzz in Washington is WEA he can survive the storm I I don't know if he should resign over this but I can tell you this is just another you know example of where he seems to be out of the loop the president's press secretary defended gner against suggestions that he had blindsided the White House first of all let me say uh the president has complete confidence but that statement isn't likely to quiet critics and when a press secretary says that the president's got every confidence in you you know you're in trouble in Washington guys has begun to fight back treasury officials say that he only learned of the bonus payments on March 10th that he tried to stop them but was told there was no legal mechanism to do so the Secretary of Treasury did each and every did everything uh that we know of humanly possible to change the structure of uh what AIG uh ultimately was required to pay out secretary gu job is probably not in any immediate danger for one thing if he went there'd be no one left to treasury the president will try to turn the page on this today he goes to California a state hard hit by unemployment where he'll talk about green energy he will also make the first ever appearance by a sitting president on a late night talk show he'll go to Jay Leno and while he'll probably banter a bit the real message will be here's my agenda Julie Bill plant outside the White House Thanks a Lot bill sh
AIG CEO: retention pay from prior mgmt; collapse risk justified it
CBS News
Transcript
aig has made a set of retention payments to employees based upon a compensation system that prior management put in place at the end of 07 and the beginning of 2008's payments were made to employees in the financial products unit that caused many of aig's problems and americans are asking quite simply why pay these people anything at all here's why i'm trying desperately to prevent an uncontrolled collapse of that business this is the only way to improve aig's ability to pay taxpayers back quickly and completely and the only way to avoid a systemic shock to the economy that the u s government help was meant to relieve make no mistake had i been ceo at the time i would never have approved the retention contracts that were put in place over a year ago it was distasteful to have to make these payments but we concluded that the risks to the company and therefore the financial system in the economy were unacceptably high and if not paid we ran the risk that we would have happen what everyone has worked so hard thus far not to have happen that said we've heard the american people loudly and clearly these past few days the payment of large bonuses to people in the very unit that cause so much of aig's financial trouble does not sit well with the american taxpayer in any way shape or form and for a good reason accordingly this morning i've asked the employees of aig financial products to step up and do the right thing specifically i've asked those who receive retention payments in excess of one hundred thousand dollars or more to return at least half of those payments some have already stepped forward and offered to give up a hundred percent of their payments
GM's China success
CNN
Transcript
GM in China is pretty much everything that GM in North America is not. It's efficient, flexible, it's profitable. I sat down with the president of GM in China and I asked him what he expects for the year ahead. We're looking at a pretty good year in 2009. The market, unlike the rest of the world, looks like it's going to be stable. In fact, we think it's going to grow a little bit, somewhere between 5% and 10%. From our perspective in General Motors, we've started the year very well. We're up about 12% year-on-year in the first two months. We've been able to start the rollout of our new product introductions, so we've got a lot of product momentum going. So we think we're going to have a good year. Sales are up, increased market share, things are looking good. They're not words that you associate with GM these days. I think the market is different to begin with. I mean, the China market is a young market. It's growing rapidly. There are a lot of people who are first car buyers, so they're not making trade-off decisions between replacing a car and preserving their pension funds or whatever. So there's an opportunity for them to buy a car, they're going to buy a car. The secret to winning in any marketplace is to provide the customer with the products they want to buy. You can't force people to take the wrong product. So, you know, that's why we say, listen very closely to what the market wants and we react quickly to put it into the marketplace. If GM as a group goes into bankruptcy, what happens to the operation here? Well, we don't think it's an issue that is going to happen at all. We've made that statement on many occasions. Our operations over here are well funded. They're well set up as joint ventures with our partner SAIC. So we think that we've got a very good structure to go forward. What has been the impact of GM's financial trouble?
Lashing out at AIG
CNN
Transcript
So there's two guys out on a life raft. And they're adrift at sea and a storm blows up and their raft is surrounded by sharks and the waves are 10 feet high. And the first guy says, I'm scared. So the second guy sells him a policy. That's a credit default swap. You're selling something with absolutely nothing to back you up. You have no money, possibly in your pocket or your wallet. And if everything goes right, you're collecting a premium. And if everything goes wrong, so what? Makes no sense. It's like snake oil salesmen selling you jars of snake oil and they don't even have the oil in the jars. I mean, there's a great company called, I can't believe it's not butter. You know, at least they have the decency to tell you it's not butter. I mean, this is insurance without being insurance because if they called it insurance, they'd have to have money to pay you off. But they don't have the money to pay you off. And they're calling it credit default swaps because if they called it, I can't believe it's not insurance, maybe nobody would buy it. This is exactly, I mean, it's a funny joke I made up, but this is exactly what's happening. And it's not funny because all of us who are laughing are crying and getting angry and getting enraged. How is this suddenly an industry? I mean, these brilliant people figured this out. It's really very simple. Call yourself something else and sell something that you're saying isn't insurance that people think is. And the biggest companies, the most sophisticated investment minds on Wall Street and all over the world are buying this stuff thinking that they are almost insured. Almost. And as long as they don't put in a claim, they're fine. But as soon as the tide goes out, there's a lot of people who are going to say, well, we're not going to sell this stuff. We're going to sell this stuff. And they're going to say, well, we're not going to sell this stuff. And they don't have the wherewithal to do it. How do we allow this to happen? I mean, some people think that we're the regulators and the Congress is the watchdogs. We're not that agency. We make the laws. We have oversight. And we rely on the regulators. We rely on the rating agencies and you at the table to sound the bells and whistles and alarms and tell us, hey, there's something going on out there that we can't regulate, that we can't observe, that we can't figure out, but it's going on. There's billions of dollars. AIG is the biggest, I suppose. How large is this? How many other people are involved in this? What is the risk to the American people? I mean, otherwise, you're playing, I can't play, I can't play. I can't believe we're not regulators and we're pretending to be. I can't believe we're doing oversight.
Money talks in Washington
CNN
Transcript
The outcry is growing in Washington, over $165 million in AIG bonuses. And while some are getting these bonuses, according to a new poll, Americans are really cutting back, trying to be more prudent with their purchases. Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser is live in Washington for us this morning. Good morning, Paul. Good morning, Melissa. How are you? Well, I, along with a lot of people, getting kind of grumpy hearing more and more about AIG. Let me share Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's comments. AIG's attitude represents everything that's wrong with Wall Street, greed and perhaps even corruption. And we know the Attorney General of the state of New York is looking into these bonuses, trying to figure out when they went out, who received them, and of course, everyone wants to know, can we get the money back? Yeah, and that's what you're hearing on Capitol Hill. One of the new talk on Capitol Hill among lawmakers is a plan to tax these bonuses for companies that accept this federal bailout money, the federal taxpayer money. So that is what they are pushing towards right now. We saw a number of senators on both sides of the aisle yesterday and members of the House as well, just extremely angry over this episode. I think what AIG has done is something that's rare in Washington, bipartisanship. It's brought everybody together and everybody is very upset about this. But there is talk now about taxing these companies. And that you could see legislation like that pushed through Congress soon. What's interesting too is that there is now some pushback against even members of Congress because there was a provision in the federal stimulus bill that was just passed last month that allowed for an exemption for existing contracts for bonuses, such as was the case with AIG. And now people are saying, well, how did that happen? And there's a lot of finger pointing going on and trying to figure out who put this provision into the stimulus bill. So you're going to hear a lot about that today. And as you know, Edward, Edward Liddy, who is the chief executive, the CEO, I guess, of AIG, he will be testifying on Capitol Hill today. Now, he came in after this mess had started. He was put in there by the government to try to clean it up. Yet the bonuses are going out on his watch and he is going to be grilled today, I would assume. That's coming up again. We'll bring it to our viewers live and expect that grilling as well. Related to AIG, we talked about Senator Grassley earlier in the week talking about his comments. He was suggesting earlier that the embattled AIG executive should resign or commit suicide. Those comments continue to resonate. They did. In fact, he had to clarify his clarify exactly what he said. He said, I don't really mean that anybody should kill themselves. But he said that his anger over over AIG was such that he was led to say those comments. And then yesterday he also used a colorful term as well that I don't even want to describe here on air to talk about the AIG comments. So Grassley, who is the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, is angry. He's angry.
Public Outrage Grows Over AIG Bonuses
VOA News
Transcript
it's a public relations nightmare for the largest Insurance firm in the world some New Yorkers say the company has no one to blame but its own Executives bonuses those guys are lucky they have a job my silent protest to AIG is that my dogs poop here but I unlike AIG pick up with my little plastic bag and clean up my mess afterwards so I am completely outraged President Obama blamed the company's problems on recklessness and greed and with more than $170 billion in government funds invested in AIG the president has pledged to do everything possible to stop the payouts in the last 6 months AIG has received substantial sums from the US Treasury and I've asked secretary gner to use that leverage and pursue every single legal Avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers hope but Republican leader John Boehner says the government should have known about the bonuses when it gave AIG $30 billion earlier this month president spokesman said that they were confident that they knew how every dime was being spent at AIG uh well clearly they didn't know what they were talking about but Democrats say there's enough blame to go around Congressman Barney Frank says of the four AIG bailouts so far three were approved by the Bush Administration Federal Reserve came to us in September and announced announced did not ask or cons s that it would be advancing $80 billion in a loan to AIG discussed over the AIG bonuses reached a fever pitch Monday when Republican senator Charles Grassley was quoted telling AIG Executives to resign or commit suicide in late Tuesday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued an ultimatum to AIG renegotiate the contracts or else if they don't chairman Bonas will propose legislation this will be in the next 24 hours to give this money back to the taxpayers by subjecting the bonuses to severe tax penalties more than 90% lawmakers are expected to get some answers Wednesday when aig's new CEO is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill milara vaa news