Members of congress and the administration sure did air it out in March over $165 million in bonuses paid to AIG executives.
It was an Outrage Olympics. Who could get more red-faced, vein-popping, sweat-filled angry became a sport worthy of making ESPN Sportscenter's Top Ten Plays.
So it's interesting to see Wednesday's Wall Street Journal reporting that 2,000 congressional aides were paid $9.1 million in bonuses in the fourth quarter of 2008:
"The money comes out of taxpayer-funded office budgets, and is surplus cash that would otherwise be forfeited if not spent. Payments ranged from a few hundred dollars to $14,000. Lawmakers, at their own discretion, gave the money to chiefs of staff, assistants, computer technicians, and more than 100 aides who earned salaries of more than $100,000 a year."
The bonuses were the highest paid in the time LegiStorm has been following the money.
Gallup is reporting that the approval rating for Congress has hit a four-year high of....39 percent. That's a good year for Congress I guess, but not such a hot success rate out here in the real world.
More from The Journal on the highest bonuses paid in eight years of following the numbers:
"There is no prohibition against handing out excess cash. The lawmakers say it is a nice incentive to get staff to conserve budgets, and it rewards hard work and long hours. Each House office receives between $1.3 million and $1.9 million annually in government funds to pay for office expenses, including salaries."
So is this hypocrisy, standard Washington procedure or making an issue out of nothing?
Read the full article by clicking here
Remember some of the yelling and screaming in Washington, DC about the AIG bonuses, from CBS News?
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