House votes to impose 90 percent tax on AIG bonuses

WASHINGTON — Acting with lightning speed, the Democratic-led House has approved a bill to slap punishing taxes on big employee bonuses from firms bailed out by taxpayers.

The vote was 328-93.

Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “We want our money back and we want our money back now for the taxpayers.”

Republicans called it a legally questionable ploy to paper over Obama administration missteps.

Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the bill was “a political circus” diverting attention from why the administration hadn’t done more to block the bonuses before they were paid.

The bonuses, totaling $165 million, were paid to employees of troubled insurer American International Group, including to traders in the unit that nearly brought about the company’s collapse.

A key U.S. senator defended his weakening of a law that made the payouts possible.

On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., acknowledged that his staff agreed to dilute the executive pay provision that would have applied retroactively to recipients of federal aid. However, Dodd said he was not aware of any American International Group Inc. bonuses at the time the change was made.

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The provision was the subject of new attention this week because, had it survived, it would have prevented AIG from granting $165 million in bonuses to employees of its financial products division.

“I’m the one who has led the fight against excessive executive compensation, often over the objections of many,” said Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. “I did not want to make any changes to my original Senate-passed amendment, but I did so at the request of administration officials, who gave us no indication that this was in any way related to AIG.”

He added: “Let me be clear: I was completely unaware of these AIG bonuses until I learned of them last week.”

Dodd did not name the administration officials in his statement, which came a day after he told CNN that he had nothing to do with the change in the provision. In his statement Wednesday, Dodd said he was referring to action to protect AIG.

“When I saw that my comments had been misconstrued, I felt it was important to set the record straight — that this had nothing to do with AIG,” he said.

Over the years, Dodd has been the top recipient of campaign contributions from AIG employees. During 2007-2008, when he ran for president, he received nearly $104,000 from AIG employees and their families, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that monitors money in politics.