Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement as the House Financial Services Committee considers the issue of executive compensation. Last week, outrage in Washington over AIG executive bonuses led the House of Representatives to pass a bill taxing all executive bonuses at a 90 percent rate. Today, Democrats are seeking to regulate all preexisting and prospective compensation packages of workers at firms that received TARP funds and other federal infusions.

“It would be refreshing if this Congress spent a little more time on encouraging economic growth and less on creating scapegoats,” said Congressman Price. “The government has done enough damage to the private sector by injecting itself into businesses with no discernable exit strategy. Now, Democrats are pushing legislation that would do irreparable harm to the private sector’s recovery efforts by driving overseas the folks who are needed to repair our financial sector. Rather than further ingraining government within these companies by setting salaries, Washington needs to get out of the bailout business once and for all. The best way to avoid the controversy over bonuses and compensation is to remove taxpayers from the position of having to pay them.”