VAN SUSTEREN: I mean, it isn't exactly good talent if -- maybe we could --
maybe we pay just to get rid of them so we don't have to pay another $6 billion next quarter!
THUNE: Right. Well, these are the guys who were brought in to kind of clean up the mess. And you know, so far, they're asking for another $6 billion. They have reduced what we think is going to be the liability of the taxpayers, though, for the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bailout significantly over the course of the last year.
But that being said, they're asking for an additional $6 billion in taxpayer assistance at a time when they're making these big bonus payments. And it just sounds -- it just looks terribly inconsistent, and I think it is -- it is an outrage. And I think, you know, you've got to show a little bit more of an ear for what's going on in this country right now and how important it is that we get our fiscal house in order, how important it is that we get people in the real economy back to work. This just doesn't square with that.
VAN SUSTEREN:
I take it that we didn't sort of tie them up and handcuff them and drag them into these $900,000 jobs, right? They came voluntarily?
THUNE: Right, and you know...
VAN SUSTEREN: I mean, so it's, like -- (INAUDIBLE) it's not like they were forced to take -- and I -- when -- when they got these jobs, did we promise them this $13 million to be divvied up in bonuses?
THUNE: I don't know the answer to that for certain. What I know is that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, in consultation with the Treasury, sets this. Now, the president's czar sort of set the pay for a lot these things a long time ago. But I think the bonuses are probably all something that's very discretionary. And you would think if it's discretionary, you wouldn't want to make those types of payouts right now.
Now, the House of Representatives is working on legislation to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in a way that would create a new structure for the pay for these that's more consistent with what other federal employees might receive.
Bookmarks