WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins made the following statement after a hearing in the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises regarding the impact the American International Group (AIG) has had on the global economy.

“We are in unchartered waters with AIG, and it is absolutely critical the American taxpayers are paid back for every dollar of the nearly $180 billion that was used to bailout AIG. There is no doubt that mistakes have been made – from the lack of accountability in the bailout program, to the outrageous employee bonuses AIG recently made. But pointing fingers and placing blame for these mistakes will not fix the problem. We need to focus on repaying the taxpayers, removing the federal government from the private financial system, and preventing the shady practices that got us into this mess in the first place. The American taxpayer did not make the mistakes at AIG or any of the other ‘too big to fail’ institutions and they should not be forced to bail them out.

“I look forward to hearing from Treasury Secretary Geithner next week about this issue. Going forward it is imperative for Congress to work with the Treasury Department on a plan to stabilize AIG and the financial markets in a manner that does not expose the American taxpayer to any additional financial risk.”

Below is the text of Congresswoman Jenkins’ opening statement for the hearing:

Over the past year, the American taxpayer has been forced to foot the bill for the bad decisions made by financial institutions that were deemed ‘too big to fail.’

Earlier this month, the administration said they were confident they knew how one of those institutions, AIG, was spending their bailout dollars. Sadly, for the American taxpayers, that proved not to be the case.

Since then we've learned that tens of billions were sent overseas and that AIG used some $165 million of their bailout money to pay bonuses to many of the same executives who got them into the mess to begin with.

I do not believe that government should interfere with the inner workings of private business. However, we are in a whole new ballgame with AIG.

The federal government now owns nearly 80% of AIG, giving us all a major stake in the success or failure of their internal decisions. As the primary unwilling investors, the American taxpayers deserve assurance that the close to $200 billion in taxpayer dollars will not be squandered and further, how and when they will be repaid.

I thank the chairman for today’s hearing and appreciate the opportunity this committee has to ask questions on behalf of our constituents.