(CNSNews.com) – Whether campaign contributions made by American International Group (AIG) employees to members of Congress during the 2008 elections should be returned is an issue that bears “further examination,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday.
Pence, who is chairman of the House Republican Conference, also said that if he had received such funds from AIG employees, he would “seriously consider” returning them.
AIG has received $170 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout funds from the federal government. Last week, the bailed-out company distributed $165 million in bonuses to 400 of its employees, which has sparked intense criticism across the nation.
Further, President Obama and lawmakers on both political sides of Capitol Hill have denounced AIG’s actions and demanded that the bonuses be returned.
But according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tallies federal campaign contributions, many lawmakers received large campaign contributions from AIG employees during the 2008 election while the company was in financial straits.
Some of the donations to lawmakers include Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), $103,100;then-Senator, now President Barack Obama(D-Ill.), $101,332; then-Senator, now Vice President Joe Biden (D-Del.), $19,975; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), $59,499; former Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), $35,965; Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), $11,000; and Sen. Max Baucus, (D-MT), $24,750.
“During that period of time when these companies were imploding and coming to the American people and asking for funds -- I think political contributions coming during that time to Senator Dodd or others certainly bears further examination,” Pence told CNSNews.com.
“I would certainly turn a critical eye towards any contribution that was received from the time that the financial crisis and the desire for government money came to my knowledge,” said Pence when asked him if he would return AIG workers’ contributions if he had received them.
“If I were to find that organizations that were looking to the Treasury to bailout their bad decisions were making contributions to my campaign, I would certainly strongly consider returning those funds,” said Pence.
He clarified, however, that he is not currently calling on lawmakers to return every contribution that came from companies that benefited from the government’s bailout of the financial industry.
“I would leave it to each member of Congress,” said Pence.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, AIG ranks as 79th of all corporations in employee contributions to federal reelection campaigns since 1989. Since then, AIG employees have donated a total of $9,331,239, which includes $4,362,625, in direct donations from individual employees to members of Congress.
The total donations have been bipartisan with 51 percent going to Democrats and 49 percent going to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.org, the Web site for the Center for Responsive Politics.
“I am reeling from the magnitude of political activism by AIG during 2008,” Pence told reporters on Wednesday. “Their generosity in political contributions during a time when their business model was collapsing is breathtaking.”
Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he was preparing a bill targeting the bonuses AIG gave to its employees by taxing them.
In the House on Tuesday, Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) submitted a bill that would implement a 60 percent tax rate on bonuses for AIG employees that exceeded $10,000.
On Wednesday, McCain, who received almost $60,000 in campaign contributions from AIG employees in the 2008 election cycle, spoke with CNSNews.com but declined to say whether his campaign would return those contributions.