In early 2009 it was disclosed that AIG had awarded approximately $165 million in bonuses and retention payments to about 400 employees in its Financial Products Group.  Seven of those employees were scheduled to receive more than $3 million.  Like so many in Minnesota, and all across the country, I was outraged at the prospect of using taxpayer funds to reward many of the same executives that helped to lead our financial system to the brink of collapse and AIG to near bankruptcy.

To address this issue, I joined the overwhelming majority of my colleagues in supporting the passage of legislation that would impose a new 90 percent income tax on bonuses received by individuals from companies that have collected over $5 billion from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).  The tax would only apply to bonuses received by taxpayers with adjusted gross income over $250,000.  Following the passage of this bill, several AIG executives voluntarily returned their bonuses.

Ultimately, the collapse of AIG represents a failure of our current system and a serious indictment of the hands-off approach that said financial markets and companies can regulate themselves.   As a Member of the House Financial Services Committee I will be very active in the coming months in helping to build a robust financial regulatory system to ensure that history does not repeat itself with another AIG.

I am proud that the House passed the strongest piece of pro-consumer credit card legislation in a generation, called the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights. This bill stops many of the gimmicks, hidden fees, and unfair practices that some credit card companies use to collect extra fees or trip you up with confusing terms.

The Credit Cardholder's Bill of Rights helps you by:

• Protecting cardholders from arbitrary interest rate increases
• Preventing cardholders who pay on time from being unfairly penalized
• Protecting cardholders from due date gimmicks
• Shielding cardholders from misleading terms
• Empowering cardholders to set limits on their credit
• Requiring card companies to fairly credit and allocate payments
• Prohibiting card companies from imposing excessive fees on cardholders
• Preventing card companies from giving subprime credit cards to people who can’t afford them
• Requiring Congress to provide better oversight of the credit card industry

One particularly egregious practice is known as Universal Default. Under Universal Default, if you have a late or missed payment on one of your credit cards, not only can that credit card company raise your interest rate, but other card companies can do the same without warning -- even if you have a perfect record with them. I've authored a bill to prohibit Universal Default, and that protection is included in the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights. I'm hopeful that the Senate will pass this bill soon so that President Obama can sign it into law.