March 19, 2009

STATEMENT OF SENATOR DODD ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AMENDMENT

Senator Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, today issued the following statement on his executive compensation amendment:

“I’m the one who has led the fight against excessive executive compensation, often over the objections of many.  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.  Let me be clear – I was completely unaware of these AIG bonuses until I learned of them last week.
 
“Reports that I changed my position on this issue are simply untrue.  I answered a question by CNN last night regarding whether or not a specific date was aimed at protecting 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.
 
“Fortunately, we wrote this amendment in a way that allows the Treasury Department to go back and review these bonus contracts and seek to recover the money for taxpayers.  Again, I have led the fight to curb excessive executive compensation, and will continue to do so.”
 
 
-30-