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 Taking Responsibility - Air Force One Press Gaggle by Bill Burton 03/18/09 — Friday, March 20, 2009 —  Q So why did it take two days for the Treasury Secretary to tell the White House and, subsequently the President, to be informed about the -- what were then the impending bonuses?MR. BURTON: Well, I'm going to refer you to what the President had to say before Marine One took off from the White House. But he, of course, is taking responsibility for what we do here, and what he's making sure is that we get the tools that we need to make sure that this does not happen again. As for, you know, timelines and different things like that, we've been through this for the past couple of days, and Gibbs and others and folks at the Treasury have answered these questions. And for any more specifics on that, I'd refer you to some of the information that they shared with folks yesterday. Q Well, I mean, up until now, Robert -- until the timeline was released last night, we didn't exactly know what the sequence was. So, I mean, is there any concern that it took two days for the Treasury Secretary to tell the White House about it? MR. BURTON: As the President said, he's very confident in how Secretary Geithner is doing. And, you know, one of the things that we're going to talk about today in California -- because I imagine people are going to have questions about AIG, these bonuses, things that are happening in the economy. The President, as he has said, shares the profound anger of the American people about these bonuses, about the folks who are getting them. And we're doing everything we can to make sure that this doesn't happen again and to make sure that taxpayers are made whole on the money that's been paid out. Q Do you anticipate any change in the internal communication system, though, so that it will flow more smoothly, more quickly? MR. BURTON: As I said, the President feels good about how Secretary Geithner is doing, and we're looking forward at what we can do to make sure that we don't see these sort of egregious problems ever again. Q The bonuses that have already been paid at AIG, there's really nothing that can be done about that, at least from the executive branch -- is that the thinking? MR. BURTON: Well, the good news is some progress has actually been made on this, in the sense that -- and Liddy talked about this in his testimony today -- some folks at AIG have already paid back their bonuses. Other people are being encouraged to do the exact same thing. So some progress is getting made on that. Secretary Geithner outlined how taxpayers would be made whole in his letter to Congress last night, and I can get that to you if you don't, by chance, have it. And, you know, so we're going to be working with AIG to see what we can do here to make sure that taxpayers are getting exactly what they deserve from the investments that we're making in order to stabilize that company. AIG | Air Force One | Bill Burton | Legislation | President Obama | Press Gaggle | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | White House Press Corps Labels: AIG, Air Force One, Bill Burton, Legislation, President Obama, Press Gaggle, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 2:17 PM
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