Thank you for contacting me regarding the use of tax dollars to pay executive bonuses. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter.
I share your concern about taxpayer money being used to pay corporate bonuses and the lack of accountability and transparency in this decision. As you may know, a provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (P.L. 111–5)—which I opposed—allowed $165 million in bonuses to be paid to the executives of American International Group (AIG) after the firm received approximately $170 billion in federal funding. Hard-working, financially responsible Texans should not have to pay for the irresponsible behavior of corporate executives who abused their positions. These executives must be held fully accountable under the law.
Furthermore, it is imperative that all parties associated with the current financial crisis are aggressively investigated and that any corporate executives found to be involved in criminal activities are swiftly prosecuted. I intend to ensure that a thorough criminal investigation is conducted and that those responsible for violating any criminal laws of the United States are held accountable. It is because of their poor—and possibly criminal—business practices that American taxpayers and our nation’s economy are in jeopardy.
I appreciate the opportunity to represent the interests of Texans in the Unites States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
Nothing like a form letter that misses the point entirely. Never willing to accept defeat, I replied:
Unfortunately, you completely missed the point of my communication to you and you continue to pursue the wrong side of this action.
I applaud your decision to conduct a criminal investigation into this matter, but that includes the Congress, which has violated the Constitution of the United States by enacting ex post facto and Bill of Attainder laws, and to use taxpayer money in a manner that is prohibited by the Constitution:U.S. Constitution, Article I: Section 9: “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.”
The TARP program itself was a violation of the Constitution.
No where in the Constitution does the Congress have the authority to use taxpayer money in this manner. The outcome of which was that businesses who had been given government money, rather than face a bankruptcy court, were forced to honor their employee contracts.
The Congress should not have passed TARP, but since they did (extra-Constitutionally), they shouldn’t engage in additional violations of law by going after those who were rightfully paid bonuses (as the businesses were contractually obligated to pay them).
If there are to be witch hunts, it should be directed at a Congress that is enacting legislation that they are prohibited from enacting. Business should be left alone to do what it is they do, including honoring their contracts, or to face a bankruptcy court if they are insolvent.
We are a nation of laws and those laws apply most especially to Congress.
Senator Cornyn is not a bad guy. He did vote against the bailouts, but he's fallen victim to the Obama-popularity-pandering of others in the Republican Party, and responding to calls by an unruly mob to go after bonus recipients. This is a case where it doesn't matter if the mob wants to go after bonus recipients. We are not allowed to do that! It wouldn't have mattered who put the text in the TARP Bill, or if it was revised later to appease the angry crowd. The Constitution strictly prohibits these actions.
The Constitutional also prohibits Congress from using taxpayer money to bailout businesses, but that didn't stop them either.
Voting against the bailouts was not enough. Calling for censure of those who championed it, raising the alarm of the unconstitutionality of it, is what we expect of our Representatives. Nothing short of impeachment and removal from office is acceptable. Violating the Constitution should have grave consequences. No where in Article I, Section 8 details "raise and collect taxes to give money willy-nilly to any project, business, or idea we think might be cool."
What we expect and what we get are seldom in concert. It is time we held them accountable to their Constitutional limits.
"To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States, that is to say, "to lay taxes for the purpose of providing for the general welfare." For the laying of taxes is the power, and the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised. They are not to lay taxes ad libitum for any purpose they please; but only to pay the debts or provide for the welfare of the Union."- Thomas Jefferson, 1791
[T]he powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.
- James Madison, 1788
Oh, well. They didn't listen to Jefferson or Madison when they were alive. What chance now that they're long dead?
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