Limits on Lobbying for Bailed-Out Banks?
One day after federally rescued insurance giant AIG announced that it was suspending its lobbying, Sen. Dianne Feinstein has announced a bill to prevent other rescued companies from using taxpayer dollars for lobbying.
“Federal dollars were not intended to be used for lobbying, and it would be unconscionable for these companies to misuse taxpayer dollars in this way,” Feinstein said in a statement.
The legislation would prevent government loans that companies received as part of the recent bailout package from going to lobbying. What it doesn’t do is impose a total ban on lobbying, so its effect is unclear.
“I don’t know what kind of impact it’s going to have,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization. “The banks are left free to use other resources to pay for lobbying expenses.”
ProPublica reported earlier this month that AIG was still lobbying after the federal government gave the company $120 billion in bailout loans last month.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that AIG’s continued lobbying included a push to relax new regulations against mortgage fraud. In response, Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) sent a letter to the company’s chief executive, Edward Liddy, asking him to stop AIG’s lobbying efforts.
Feinstein plans to introduce her plan when Congress returns to session after the election.
Get Updates
Our Hottest Stories
- Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
- In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
- Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds
- Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
- Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored
- Introducing the ProPublica Patient Harm Community on Facebook
- Got Student Loans? Share Your Documents With Us
- Built for a Simpler Era, OSHA Struggles When Tower Climbers Die
- Remember Stuxnet? Why the U.S. is Still Vulnerable
- Congressional Leader Calls for Investigation of the Pardon Office
- Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
- Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
- In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
- Air Force Pilots Balk at Flying the World’s Most Expensive Fighter Jet
- Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored
- Watchdog Group Calls for Probe of Lobbyists Behind Congressional Trip to Taiwan
- Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds
- N.Y. Congressman Will Reimburse Costs for $22,000 Taiwan trip
- Remember Stuxnet? Why the U.S. is Still Vulnerable
- Happy Graduation! Here's The Best, Most Depressing Journalism on Student Debt






