SEN DODD: Obama Treasury Department pushed to cut language restricting bonuses

[FourScore]

Obama Treasury Department pushed to cut language restricting bonuses, senator says
John Byrne
Published: Thursday March 19, 2009

The Obama Administration's Treasury Department pushed to strip language that would have restricted the bonuses paid to staffers of bailed-out companies from the stimulus bill, a Democratic senator revealed late Wednesday.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) disclosed that he was responsible for inserting a clause into the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out firms to continue forward with eye-popping bonuses to executives that may have shared responsibility for some of the companies' woes in the first place.

In a step further, though, he told CNN that the language was sought by the Obama Administration's Treasury Department, which feared that the government would face lawsuits by including the provision.

A senior Treasury Department official purportedly confirmed Dodd's assessment. It remains unclear whether the Treasury Department knew the insurance behemoth AIG planned to pay some $165 million in bonuses to employees at the time.

The Connecticut Democrat appears to have gotten caught on the spot by the cable news network. On Tuesday, he told the network that he had nothing to do with the bonus language -- which now seems to have been a lie.

On Wednesday, a Treasury Department official confessed to CNN that the administration had pushed to have the bonus measure nixed, forcing Dodd's hand.

Dodd, when approached again, said the decision not to include language regarding bonuses "seemed like innocent modifications" at the time.

"I agreed reluctantly," Dodd said. "I was changing the amendment because others were insistent."

"The administration had expressed reservations," he added. "They asked for modifications. The alternative was losing the amendment entirely."

He further added that the change was made at the urging of Treasury Department staffers, and that he hadn't been contacted by senior Administration aides...

MORE AT RAWSTORY:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_Treasury_Department_pushed_for_language_0319.html

[Junkdrawer]

1. Heck of a job, Timmy.. n/t

[notesdev]

2. the "Cramer defense"

'Dodd, when approached again, said the decision not to include language regarding bonuses "seemed like innocent modifications" at the time.'

In the face of $100k in AIG donations and the lies of the day before, we'd have to be pretty stupid to accept this.