House Proceeding on Jul 31st, 2009 :: 0:49:15 to 0:58:25
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0:49:11 to 0:49:32( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: you profit if the bonus pays off and you lose nothing if the bonus causes great damage to the company and the commism i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the hougs will receive a the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary.

0:49:15 to 0:58:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Spencer Bachus

0:49:33 to 0:49:55( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: the secretary: i have been directed to tell the house that the senate has passed s. 337. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama. >> i rise in -- mr. bachus: i rise in opposition to this legislation and yield myself five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for

0:49:56 to 0:50:16( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: five minutes. mr. bachus: thank you. mr. chairman, i rise in opposition to this legislation. the american people are rightly disturbed by almost daily reports of so-called too big to fail corporations that have received billions of dollars in government assistance and have

0:50:17 to 0:50:37( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: at the same time paid their employees billions of dollars in bonuses. in response to those events, republicans have introduce ed legislation which gets the american people -- introduced legislation which gets the american people out of the bailout business. that, mr. chairman is our response. it prohibits the government from picking winners and

0:50:38 to 0:50:59( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: losers. we believe that's the solution. the legislation we have introduced clearly establishes a structure where failure is not rewarded. and market discipline is reestablished by placing responsibility for those who endwage in risky behavior squarely where it belongs, on

0:51:00 to 0:51:20( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: the risk taker, not the taxpayer. that is the republican response. the obama administration takes a different approach. it continues to embrace the too big to fail doctrine. that's why we're here today, that's why we have to address executive compensation. it appoints a pay czar to oversee compensation at the

0:51:21 to 0:51:43( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: growing list of companies receiving taxpayer-funded bailouts and guarantees, despite growing public outrage over these companies dishing out billions of dollars in government-enabled bonuses. the obama administration and the democratic congressional

0:51:44 to 0:52:06( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: leadership steadfastly refuses to embrace republican legislation or offer its own proposals prohibiting further taxpayer bailouts. instead, it says that these same corporations are simply too significant to allow them to fail. which not only enables but encourages these same corporations to continue what the obama administration

0:52:07 to 0:52:27( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: concedes is more risky behavior. one of the behaviors that the administration and chairman frank identify as risky in these significantly cig cabot -- i mean, in these systematically significant corporations, is executive compensation.

0:52:28 to 0:52:48( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: today we are presented with a fix. a legislative response to these bailout bonuses and the resulting public outrage. the cure-all solution bears the lofty and noble title, corporate and financial institution compensation fairness act. it is in every way up to the

0:52:49 to 0:53:09( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: challenge laid down by our former colleague, mr. emanuel. most recently of 1600 pennsylvania avenue who never -- who said never let a crisis go to waste. it is also in many ways closely akin to the recently departed cap and tax legislation and the ever-oming government, or

0:53:10 to 0:53:31( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: shou i say public option, health plan. all three are sweeping power grab into the private sector under the guise of the government riding to the rescue. all three rely on the government to fix the problem. all three promise to fix the problem which to a great extent was caused by, guess who?

0:53:32 to 0:53:52( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: that's right, the governme. and lack of regulation by the government. all three will create or more accurately duplicate large government bureaucracies. all three represent ill-advised and many cases incompetent government intrusions. just three weeks or four weeks

0:53:53 to 0:54:13( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: ago, the white house spokesman, our gene sperling, legal counsel for of secretary of treasurer, warned, go slow. he said, this is a very difficult subject. it needs testing. it has potential for unintended consequences. just yesterdayefore the

0:54:14 to 0:54:35( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: sena, the white house press spokesman, robert gibbs, stated th the obama administration is concerned that the chairman's legislation may give the government regulators too much say on compensation. but as the chairman said to the rules coittee, my legislation goes beyond what the obama

0:54:36 to 0:54:57( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: administration has proposed. now, if that doesn't take your breath away, nothing will. in some ways, this legislation borders on the classic bait and switch. it's being sold as giving the owners of the corporation the right to set pay and compensation standards. that's the shareholders. chairman frank just this week

0:54:58 to 0:55:20( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: on cnbc said dollar amounts are for the chair holeders to decide. -- shareholders to decide. i would like -- is my time up? the speaker pro tempore: yes, it is. mr. bachus: i'd like to recognize myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. bachus: he said say on pay

0:55:21 to 0:55:41( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: is to shareholders. true, the first x pages of the bill give the owners, the shareholders a nonbinding vote on the pay of top executives. but then come the next eight pages. the switch which gives the regulators the power to decide appropriate compensation for not only just top executives

0:55:42 to 0:56:02( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: but for all employees of all financial institutions. above $1 billion in assets. and all without regard to the shareholders' prior approval. so under the guise of empowering shareholders it is in fact the government that is in power. one lesson we have learned from the government's arbitrary interventions over the past 18

0:56:03 to 0:56:23( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: months, and that is the converse of two big to fail is too small to -- too big to fail is too small to save which is a designation which applies to 99.9% of businesses which have been deemed by this administration and the regulators as significantly unimportant or significant.

0:56:24 to 0:56:44( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: -- insignifica but not so unimportant, not so insignificant to be totally ignored. while not significant enough to receive a bailout, they are apparently worthy of increased regulation in the form of government mandated pay regulations and new disclosure requirements in the chairman's bill.

0:56:45 to 0:57:05( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: and finally on page 15, the bill designates those same government entities which are empowered to control compensation plans that would threaten the safety of financial institutions or adversely impact economic conditions or financial

0:57:06 to 0:57:27( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: stability to oversee this riskiness. look over the list and see if it inspires confidence. these are the same government agencies that regulated a.i.g., countrywide and collectively failed to prevent the worst -- i yield myself an additional minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. bachus: these are the same

0:57:28 to 0:57:48( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: government agencies that regulated a.i.g., countrywide and collectively failed to prevent the worst financial calamity since the great depression. if it took them 30 years to catch bernie madoff, do you really think the s.e.c. can do beater swrob of identifying -- do a better job of identifying inappropriate risk of financial executives whose businesses

0:57:49 to 0:58:11( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: have remain solvent during these challenging times? really now, is there any question who is better qualified or for that matter who ought to be responsible for setting compensation within the american corporation? in closing, mr. chairman, this bill continues the democrat majority's tendency to go to the default solution for every problem, create a government

0:58:12 to 0:58:25( Edit History Discussion )

Spencer Bachus: bureaucracy to make decions better left to private citizens and private corporations. that's what we did in cap and trade, that's what we did in the health care proposals, and it's this bill on stpwhreck tif compensation -- executive