Here is 16th District Congressman Don Manzullo’s take on AIG’s latest missteps:

Manzullo: Taxpayers Need Answers on AIG Bonuses
Congressman participating today in major hearing into taxpayer-funded executive payments

[WASHINGTON] Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL) is participating today in a major Congressional hearing investigating why AIG, a recipient of billions of dollars of taxpayer bailout funds, awarded its executives with $165 million in bonuses last week.

Manzullo delivered the attached statement this morning during a hearing of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, of which Manzullo is a member. Manzullo is planning to question AIG CEO Edward Liddy when he testifies later today, which will be carried live on most of the cable news networks and will be streamed live at http://financialservices.house.gov

Manzullo’s opening statement can also be seen on his YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/repmanzullo

OPENING STATEMENT OF
CONGRESSMAN DON MANZULLO (R-IL)

“I questioned Neel Kashkari about TARP on December 10th and asked him if he was going to ask for a $3 million dollar bonus back from one individual. He said, it could be deferred compensation and ostensibly not returnable. Deferred compensation for what?

“I represent Rockford, Illinois, the largest city with 14% unemployment. People are losing their jobs, factories are closing. They’re taking cutbacks, working odd shifts, and taking late night shifts. They aren’t being paid to destroy the economy—they’re being paid to invigorate it.

“They’re sitting in this seat today, all 740,000 of them, wondering, how could government do something so stupid as to allow these people to make that kind of money and then sit back and everybody point fingers at each other?

“We want some answers today.”