House Proceeding 04-01-09 on Apr 1st, 2009 :: 1:07:45 to 1:13:50
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1:07:41 to 1:08:03( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: to how our ideas -- to our ideas on how it should be used that isn't capitalism. that's socialism for the rich. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. mr. frank: how much time do i have remaining, mr. chairman?

1:07:45 to 1:13:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Tom Price

1:08:04 to 1:08:25( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts has six minutes remaining. the gentleman from georgia has 6 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from california. mr. price: i understand the chairman will close and that's it. mr. frank: that's the way it will be.

1:08:26 to 1:08:46( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: the chair: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. price: thank you, mr. chairman. it's been an interesting discussion, no doubt about it. we've talked about executive compensation, we've talked about a problem that arose, a specific problem that arose when senator dodd put that language in the bill in the middle of the night in the spending bill. the interesting thing about it,

1:08:47 to 1:09:07( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: mr. chairman is that the bill to remove that language is lines long. it just 11 lines long. it's not six pages long. if we were to do what some in this body on the other side say, the only thing we're here to do, to remove that language, it would be h.r. 1673 from mr.

1:09:08 to 1:09:29( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: lungren. that's the bill that would remove the 11 lines that make it so that that back room deal for a.i.g. executives would be stricken. so i think it's important that we appreciate that's whoing -- what's going on here. i appreciate the comments from the gentleman of california who did describe what's in the bill.

1:09:30 to 1:09:50( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: it's important for our colleagues to look at the bill, it's not too long, it's six pages. we can indeed read it, i hope some of my colleagues will read it. the title of the bill to prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards. now when you read the bill and

1:09:51 to 1:10:12( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: get to who is going to define all that, which is really the question, mr. chairman, usually we think that in a market economy, in the united states economy, in the economy that has allowed more success and more opportunity for more individuals than any nation in the history of man kind, that the way we define compensation and performance in the market

1:10:13 to 1:10:33( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: is in the private market, not in the government. 10 on page three, it says that no payment would be able to go or provide for compensation that is unreasonable or excessive as defined in standards established by the secretary. the secretary of the treasury is going to tell us what is unreasonable and what is quality performance.

1:10:34 to 1:10:56( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: well, secretary of the treasury. let's look at his biography, mr. chairman. oh, my goodness. he's the ninth president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, which began -- when he began his service there in 2003. a wonderful job. but what experience es he have in setting compensation? in fact, what experience does

1:10:57 to 1:11:18( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: the government have in setting compensation? he first joined the department of the treasury in 1988. that means 21 years of service for the department of the treasury or in the federal government. that's wonderful and he's to be commended for it. but what experience does he have and why would the nation want him to be deciding what

1:11:19 to 1:11:39( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: compensation and performance standards are for this nation? maybe it was in his education. went to dartmouth college, bachelor's degree in government and asian studies, wonderful institution, great study, international studies, masters economics and east asian studies in 1985. mr. chairman, not to slight the treasury of the secretary, but

1:11:40 to 1:12:00( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: the ameran people do not believe the secretary of the treasury ought to be setting compensation limits for anybody. why? why does all this feel so strange? it's because we're in a political economy, we're no longer in the market economy the american people know and love and embrace. what does a political economy

1:12:01 to 1:12:22( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: look like? the gentleman from california described it. he said because of the disclosure provisions, the american people putting up the money have a right to know. sure they have a right to know. but that's not what a market economy is. he says that you ought to have the people have a right to know and set the limits because this is capitalism.

1:12:23 to 1:12:43( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: no, capitalism was bastardized a year or more ago when we started down this road that mr. chairman, i opposed it every step of the way because we pointed out then, this is where we get. we would get to be debating on the floor of this house what kind of compensation members in the private sector ought to have. mr. chairman, that's a dangerous place to be.

1:12:44 to 1:13:04( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: it's a dangerous place to be. because it leads presidents to thinking that they can remove c.e.o.'s from private companies. that's where it leads to. it leads members of congress to believe they can call on the treasury department to get money out of previous bills that have been passed in congress even though the institution in their district doesn't qualify under the rules

1:13:05 to 1:13:25( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: that have been provided. mr. chairman, it's a dangerous place to be. it violates the constitution. i know it's a quaint document, mr. chairman, and we don't think about it much anymore, but article 1, section 9, said no bill or ex post facto law shall be passed. this bill is each.

1:13:26 to 1:13:46( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: mr. chairman,s that bad step. it's a bad and a dangerous step for this congress. it provides -- it adds to the dangerous and reckless and reckless policies of this administration that the american people recognize as not being consistent with american fundamental principles, with the market principles that made this

1:13:47 to 1:13:50( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Price: nation the greatest nation in the history of mankind. i urge my colleagues to