WHO?

Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to

Undo Bonus Protections in the

'Dodd Amendment' Rules

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.95, 0.1699, 21.78%) bonus recipients so the government could recoup some or all of the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax.

While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. The provision, now called “the Dodd Amendment” by the Obama Administration provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” -- which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax.http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/dodd-cracks-aig---time/

Filibuster power

The White House budget director said Tuesday that the Obama administration may take advantage of a rarely used congressional rule that would strip Republicans of their filibuster power to get some controversial proposals through the Senate by simple majorities.

Peter Orszag told reporters that the White House would prefer not to use the “reconciliation” process, which allows measures to pass on simple majority votes, a tactic that’s being considered for global-warming and health-care proposals.

But he added that the rule has been used on controversial tax bills going back to Ronald Reagan. “We’re not taking it off the table,” he said.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/64192.html

If it wasn't so sad it would be funny