U.S. Rep. Brad Miller harshly criticized the head of troubled insurer AIG today.

During testimony by American International Group Chairman Edward Liddy this afternoon, the Raleigh Democrat went after the company for using $49.5 billion of federal bailout money to pay off credit insurance policies held by banks.

In an exchange that was broadcast live on CNN, Miller said that the research on banking crises in other countries shows it is crucial to maintain "market discipline" by ensuring that businesses that made bad decisions suffer.

"Are we maintaining market discipline by continuing to give money to AIG to pay unsecured creditors?" he asked, brusquely.

Liddy responded that the company was no longer paying off its insurance policies, then added that the company had to honor its contracts.

"To your basic point, we owe those people that money," he said. "It's just a fact of life. ... The result of not paying them is an event of default, and it forces the (other) company into bankruptcy."

Previously: Miller criticizes Treasury Department.

Correction: An earlier version of this post included an incorrect link. 

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan is blasting bonuses at AIG.

The Greensboro Democrat said today in a statement that she shares "the public's outrage" over reports that the ailing financial insurer is paying employees $165 million in performance bonuses while receiving a federal bailout.

The company has defended itself by saying that they are contractually obligated to make the payments, a position the U.S. Treasury Department agreed with.

"I suppose it is no surprise that a company which engaged in such grossly reckless behavior that it required a $170 billion bailout would also willingly enter into a contract that requires it pay out 'performance bonuses' to its employees even when it is on the verge of bankruptcy," she said. "That is not good business sense."

Hagan cosponsored an amendment in February to limit the pay of CEOs of companies receiving federal bailout money.

Her statement followed similar remarks by President Obama Monday.

* Democracy South, former Finnish ambassador Bonnie McElveen-Hunter of Greensboro are among the North Carolina victims of financier Bernie Madoff.

* Blogger Gordon Smith points out that Sen. Steve Goss' blog libel bill casts a wide net over the Internet and would be retroactive to Dec. 9, 2008.

* U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx gets a suite named for her at the National Republican Congressional Committee for raising $250,000 more than expected last cycle by calling donors individually.

* Attorney General Roy Cooper presses Bank of America about last-minute bonuses for Merrill Lynch employees after receiving federal bailout funds.

Sen. Kay Hagan is co-sponsoring an amendment that would limit the pay of CEOs whose companies are receiving federal bailout money to the salary of the U.S. president.

Hagan said top executives receiving money from the bailout were receiving an average of $2.6 million in salary and bonuses, Rob Christensen reports.

"This is a slap in the face to millions of Americans who can’t understand why the same companies who sought out taxpayer dollars to bail them out were in turn paying their top executives more money than many folks will make in a lifetime," Hagan said in a statement. "It's unacceptable, it's unconscionable, and by co-sponsoring this measure, I'm joining the chorus of Americans who have said, 'Enough.'"

Hagan joined with Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Tom Harkin of Iowa to sponsor the amendment to the Senate’s economic recovery package.

The president makes $400,000 per year.

Sen. Kay Hagan is taking fire for her votes on bailout money.

During her Senate campaign, the Greensboro Democrat opposed a bailout for Wall Street — though she did not take a position until after Sen. Elizabeth Dole had already voted.

Now in office, Hagan voted to release the second half of the roughly $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program.

"Senator Hagan is going to have some explaining to do on her first trip home," Brent Woodcox, a spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party, wrote on the party blog.

At the same time, Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, voted for the original bill but against releasing the second half of the money.

A spokesman said Burr wanted to know how the money had affected the market first. (GN-R)

Congress' stimulus package has some strings.

Gov. Beverly Perdue had asked for a no-strings-attached package of billions of dollars for the state for infrastructure and to plug a budget hole.

But Congressional Democrats, with input from President-elect Barack Obama, came up with a slightly different plan.

U.S. Rep. David Price said about $150 billion of the package will go to states, and another $150 billion to municipalities, much of it through existing federal programs. 

"We tried to do a quick but responsible accounting of what might have an immediate effect," he said.

The bill includes $70 billion for highway construction, $87 billion in Medicaid funding and $79 billion to prevent cutbacks in services. (N&O)

When former Gov. Mike Easley said he "chunked" a letter, copy editors wondered.

The American Heritage Dictionary includes "to throw out; discard" for the verb "to chuck" but no similar definition for the verb "to chunk," Michael Biesecker reports. 

Perhaps the governor misspoke, they concluded.

At a news conference Monday, President George W. Bush raised the question anew when speaking about his support for a bank bailout.

"I readily concede I chunked aside some of my free market principles," he said.

Perhaps, after eight years in the spotlight, both men's command of the English language is misunderestimated.

Unhappy about the auto industry bailout?

Tell it to Erskine Bowles.

The head of the University of North Carolina system sits on the board of General Motors, as well as investment bank Morgan Stanley, real estate investment trust Cousins Properties and N.C. Mutual Life Insurance, according to an official biography. 

According to GM's Web site, he joined the 14-member board in 2005. He also sits on the board's Executive Compensation Committee and the Directors and Corporate Governance Committee.

Earlier this month, President Bush announced that the federal government would give $17.4 billion to U.S. automakers GM and Chrysler, despite the failure of a Congressional bailout bill.

GM CEO Rick Wagoner, a former Duke basketball player, led the fight for the federal funds.

According to the New York Times, Wagoner made about $24 million a year in 2006 and 2007 from a combination of salary, stock option grants and other compensation. 

It was just a few days ago that manufacturing workers in North Carolina told U.S. Rep. Brad Miller that they needed help from Washington.

Today, President Bush announced that $17.4 billion of this fall’s financial bailout will go to auto makers.

Earlier this week, Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, visited parts makers in Person and Rockingham counties this week to hear workers’ views on how the recession is affecting them, Barb Barrett reports.

"They’re pretty worried," Miller said.

There weren’t many workers to talk with at one plant; many had been told to take a month off without pay.

Although North Carolina has no auto plants, it has a thriving industry of parts manufacturers who work for both American and foreign companies.

"If the Big 3 really do go down, it’s going to affect a lot of jobs, a lot of communities that don’t really know it, because they think 'auto parts' and think Detroit," Miller said.

Update: Miller had good words for Bush's Friday announcement of short-term relief for the companies.

"What President Bush has proposed is obviously not going to be a permanent fix," Miller said Friday, "but it keeps the Big 3 carmakers alive for another few months, and it lets them work on long-term solutions." 

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's office also is receiving calls today about the potential auto bailout.

Spokesman Wes Clymer said the calls — a couple hundred so far — are about evenly divided between supporters and opponents. The numbers, he said, are nothing like the thousands of calls that poured into the office in opposition to the $700 billion bailout in September, Barb Barrett reports.

Dole, a Salisbury Republican, opposed the bailout in September and told auto executives in a hearing Tuesday that she remains very skeptical about their request as well.