Wednesday
Mar182009
Obama: AIG used taxpayer funds inappropriately
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 1:30PM
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service
On the South Lawn of the White House today President Barack Obama said that the government must establish a regulatory framework to prevent future irresponsible activities such as those seen recently by AIG. Obama said that AIG used taxpayer funds inappropriately. He went on that the government is considering a power authority similar to that of the FDIC, which could exercise power proactively while moving to protect creditors, depositors, and consumers alike. The President said he has been working with Congressional leaders to this end, specifically with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
President Barack Obama said that although people in his administration did not cause AIG to inappropriately use taxpayers money, he himself was responsible for AIG’s overindulgences, because as president, “the buck stops with me”. Obama chagrined at having to “clean up after AIG’s mess”, and acknowledged that the American people are right to be upset with the situation. The president suggested that the country channel this anger to productive ends.
When questioned about recent calls for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Obama said that Geithner has his complete confidence, and is “making all the right moves” after having been placed in a tough position.
On the South Lawn of the White House today President Barack Obama said that the government must establish a regulatory framework to prevent future irresponsible activities such as those seen recently by AIG. Obama said that AIG used taxpayer funds inappropriately. He went on that the government is considering a power authority similar to that of the FDIC, which could exercise power proactively while moving to protect creditors, depositors, and consumers alike. The President said he has been working with Congressional leaders to this end, specifically with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
President Barack Obama said that although people in his administration did not cause AIG to inappropriately use taxpayers money, he himself was responsible for AIG’s overindulgences, because as president, “the buck stops with me”. Obama chagrined at having to “clean up after AIG’s mess”, and acknowledged that the American people are right to be upset with the situation. The president suggested that the country channel this anger to productive ends.
When questioned about recent calls for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Obama said that Geithner has his complete confidence, and is “making all the right moves” after having been placed in a tough position.
Obama’s budget adds “$1 trillion to the national debt every year for the next ten years”
At a House GOP leadership stakeout this morning Republican leader Congressman John Boehner (R-OH), Republican whip Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA), Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) criticized President Obama’s budget proposals prior to his press conference this evening.
Congressman Boehner said: “The President’s budget spends too much, taxes too much and it borrows too much from our kids and grandkids...if you look at the debt numbers in his budget you will see that over the next six years President Obama will create more debt than his 43 predecessors have in the last 220 years.”
Congressman Cantor added: “I believe we will have our alternatives as to how we see this country going forward. You may hear the President talking tonight about how the Republicans are going to resist because they have no ideas...it’s just not true, he knows it’s not true. The leader and I handed him our vision of a stimulus bill back a month or so ago.”
Congressman Pence accused President Obama’s budget of “bringing forward the largest tax increase in American history” and “adding more than one trillion dollars to the national debt every year, for the next ten years.” He labeled the budget “fiscally irresponsible.”