Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) proposed a bill today that would “cap compensation for employees of companies taking U.S. government aid during the economic downturn,” Reuters reports.
Under the bill by McCaskill, an early endorser of Obama’s presidential candidacy, employees would not be able to make more money than the U.S. president — $400,000 a year — until their companies no longer relied on government aid, such as the Troubled Asset Relief Program that bails out banks.
Politico notes that the cap “would include not only salary but also bonuses and stock options.”
McCaskill had some tough words for Wall Street executives, as quoted in the Reuters article:
“I am mad,” she said. “We have bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer … They don’t get it!”
Yesterday, President Obama called news that financial executives received around $18.4 billion in bonus money last year “shameful.”
Congress in Your Pocket
