House Passes AIG Bonus Tax Bill

Lawmakers said the House of Representatives would vote later on a bill to slap a 90-percent surtax on bonuses paid at companies that, like American International Group, have been rescued at US taxpayer expense.

"I expect to see an overwhelming vote which will be an expression of the people's anger and disgust" at corporate bosses rewarding themselves for failure, House Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said late Wednesday.

In frantically rushing to the rescue of American International Group Inc. last fall, Treasury Department officials negotiated a $40-billion deal that explicitly allowed the company to set aside tens of millions of dollars for executive bonuses and richly reward individual senior executives without restrictions or any concern that the government might interfere.

Obama has sent Congress a $3.55 trillion budget plan and next week the House of Representatives and Senate are expected to begin work on legislation setting parameters for government spending in the 2010 fiscal year that starts on October 1.