Dodd says he didn't know bill revision would allow for AIG bonuses
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Under fire for his role in allowing the AIG bonuses, Senator Chris Dodd mounted a vigorous self-defense yesterday, telling home-state constituents that he had no idea that a change in language in an executive pay provision would permit them.
"No one is angrier than I am," he said in Enfield, Conn.
Dodd said that during the drafting of the final version of the $787 billion stimulus bill last month, he led the charge on including "strong language" to limit executive compensation. Then, he said, Treasury Department officials asked him to revise the provision, to protect some already-contracted bonuses, because they were concerned about legal issues. "It seemed rather technical and innocuous at the time," said Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
He said if he had known the change would allow the $165 million in AIG bonuses, "I would have rejected it out of hand."
Dodd, who faces reelection next year, said he was "disturbed" that those who sought the change didn't stand up and take the blame as soon as the controversy emerged earlier this week.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is on the hot seat himself over the bonuses, said Thursday that his staff did talk to Dodd about their concerns and he accepted at least part of the responsibility.
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He wraps up nearly every press conference on that note, even though many reporters aren't guys, but women.
He refers to prominent economists that way: "He's one of the best big-picture guys in the business," Obama said in introducing Mark Zandi, chief economist at
He feels fine calling the CEOs of the nation's biggest companies guys (they were mostly male). "I want you guys to do your thing," he told the Business Roundtable earlier this month, rebutting suggestions that he wanted to "get government in everybody's business."
He doesn't mind calling members of Congress "guys," as he did at a healthcare summit this month. On the "Tonight Show" Thursday night, he talked about "all those Secret Service guys with guns." And just yesterday afternoon, he told state legislators, "It's helpful for me also to talk to you because you guys see things from outside of Washington."
Such informality might not fly, though, when he attends the G-20 economic summit in London on April 2 with European leaders and others. That setting calls for more diplomatic protocol, and Obama has avoided his verbal talisman in more formal settings.
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Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk show host, got quite a bit of attention for saying he wanted President Obama to fail because he opposed his policies. On his appearance Thursday night on CNN's "Larry King Live," Romney was asked whether he wants Obama to fail, too.
"I want liberal policies to fail," replied the former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate. "I want him to fail in trying to put in place a healthcare plan that takes away the private sector from healthcare. . . . But I want him to succeed as a president, meaning, I want him to succeed in strengthening our economy, keeping us free, bringing our troops home in success from Iraq and Afghanistan."
Romney also gave Obama a back-handed compliment on the president's high approval ratings: "I know that people recognize that this is a man who is a decent fellow. He's intelligent. He's well intentioned. He's just not experienced in the matters that we're dealing with right now."
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