MSNBC "Interview With Senator John Barrasso" - Transcript

Interview

Copyright ©2009 by Federal News Service, Inc., Ste. 500, 1000 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20005 USA. Federal News Service is a private firm not affiliated with the federal government. No portion of this transcript may be copied, sold or retransmitted without the written authority of Federal News Service, Inc. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of the original work prepared by a United States government officer or employee as a part of that person's official duties. For information on subscribing to the FNS Internet Service at www.fednews.com, please email Carina Nyberg at cnyberg@fednews.com or call 1-202-216-2706.

MR. SHUSTER: A lot of tough talk, but the question this morning: Will there be any real action? And where were all these voices of outrage when Congress handed over the bailout money in the first place?

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sounding off, and as you heard, one is actually calling for AIG executives to fall on their swords.

SEN. GRASSLEY (From tape): The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them, if they follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry and then either do one or two things, resign or go commit suicide.

MR. SHUSTER: About an hour ago, we got a response from AIG, which said that while that remark is disappointing, AIG's employees continue to work with poise and professionalism, to take care of policyholders and repay taxpayers.

Wyoming's Republican Senator John Barrasso joins us live right now, and Senator, first of all, is it appropriate for one of your colleagues to be talking about suicide in any situation?

SEN. BARRASSO: Well, what I'd rather see is those seven AIG executives who took over $3 million each to come out to the American public and say, I want to be part of the solution, I'm not going to take the bonus, I'm going to give it back. It's really a matter of the character of those individuals. They can come forward and say, I want to be part of the solution, I don't want to be part of the problem, I want to help save America and help save the country a lot of money and help save the taxpayers. That's what I think they ought to be doing.

MR. SHUSTER: That's true, and I think a lot of people would agree with you on what AIG should be doing, but as far as your Senate colleague, Chuck Grassley, was he out of bounds on what he said?

SEN. BARRASSO: Well, I would have done it a different way, but I'll tell you, we have to take a look at this incredible amount of bonuses that's paid to retain people that put us in this problem in the first place. This is a company that really made the most money and was the most reckless, and when you look at the fact that they're now talking about renegotiating the 2009 bonuses and try to get it down by 30 percent, according to President Liddy's letter to the Secretary of Treasury, you say, wait a second, these are open to negotiation and, right now, the taxpayers of this country own 80 percent of the stock of AIG. We have a right to see what those contracts are as owners of the company.

You're not talking about a private company here; you're talking about a company that's owned by the American people and American taxpayers have a right to be outraged, not just at the employment of bonuses that are being paid, but also at how this money has been spent.

There have been four bailouts now, David, of AIG. Why don't we have the accountability and the oversight that should have been written into every one of those four every time that money goes out? If you want to get into a situation where you're taking money from the United States Government, then you have a responsibility and the rules change when you take that money.

MR. SHUSTER: I want to ask you about, first of all, the administration. I mean there's every indication, at least the Treasury Department knew about this last week, that Secretary Geithner tried to get the best sort of deal he could and then administration officials were out there over the weekend defending the contract, saying you can't abrogate them, and then yesterday, all of a sudden, the president says, wait a second, we're going to try to do everything we can when I thought they had already done everything they could to stop this.

SEN. BARRASSO: Well, there's a lot of different ways to define everything you can, but you take a look at these contracts and I think the American people want to see these contracts. I think most people didn't hear about until after the money had already been paid out, which is a problem, it's a way that the government paid four different times, did four different bailouts of this company and the people that were involved in this, these aren't newcomers to financing, these are sophisticated investors who took significant risk and now look at where all the money is going? Not just into bonuses, but half of the money is going overseas, $13 billion went to Goldman Sachs and we're talking not millions now, but billions when Goldman Sachs -- we took all the precautions that we needed so we don't need a bailout, but a lot of this money is being funneled through AIG to other bankers, a lot of it overseas and I'll tell you, there's a lot here to look into and we don't have the kind of oversight and the kind of accountability that American taxpayers ought to be getting from this Congress and for their hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

MR. SHUSTER: Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso, and Senator Barrasso, good to see you as always and thanks for coming on this morning. We appreciate it.

SEN. BARRASSO: Thank you, David.

MR. SHUSTER: You're welcome.

Source