In a congressional hearing on Wednesday, the CEO of American International Group, the troubled insurance company, will face tough questions from angry members of Congress. The appearance by AIG Chief Executive Edward Liddy comes amid continuing outrage about $165 million in bonuses paid out by the company which received $170 billion in help from the U.S. government:
美国国会星期三举行听证会，处于困境的保险业巨头美国国际集团(AIG)的首席执行官爱德华.利迪将要回答愤怒的国会议员们提出的尖锐问题。AIG在接受美国政府1千7百亿美元救助资金的同时，发放1亿6千5百万的奖金，引发了众怒。
On the eve of the hearing in the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, condemnations of AIG and the bonuses were coming fast and furious, with the matter for the most part dominating news in Washington.
在国会众议院金融委员会举行听证会前夕，对AIG和AIG发放奖金行动的谴责声铺天盖地，成了华盛顿的重大新闻。
AIG chief Liddy has asserted that bonuses the company paid were necessary to retain the best and brightest talent, an assertion he expressed directly to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a letter, adding that bonus contracts with employees were finalized well before Congress approved financial bail out funds in late 2008.
AIG首席执行官利迪在直接写给美国财政部长盖特纳的一封信里说，公司发放这些奖金是为了留住最优秀的人才。他补充说，雇员的奖金协议是在国会2008年年底批准金融救助资金之前很久就最后敲定了的。
While President Obama has said the government should use every legal method to block the bonuses, and House and Senate lawmakers prepared legislation aimed at recovering funds, the administration and Congress also face legal complications in doing so.
奥巴马总统表示，政府应当利用一切法律手段阻止这些奖金的发放。与此同时，参众两院议员则准备通过议案，收回资金。但是行政当局和国会在这个过程中也必须解决一些法律问题。
On Tuesday, in a noisy lobby of a congressional office building, reporters bombarded financial services chairman Barney Frank, a Massachutsetts Democrat, with questions about the AIG bonuses.
星期二，在国会一个办公楼嘈杂的前厅里，记者们争先恐后地就AIG奖金问题向金融委员会主席、麻萨诸塞州民主党人弗兰克提问。
While Congress and the administration consider what can be done retroactively to recover funds, Franks says the government should use leverage it now has as 80 percent shareholder in AIG.
在国会和白宫考虑如何追回资金之际，弗兰克说，政府应当利用手中掌握AIG百分之80股权这张牌。
"You begin by asserting our rights of ownership," said Barney Frank. "And I do think asserting our rights of ownership strengthens the legal case. I think we should be suing to get those bonuses back not as the government that gave money to this private entity, but as the owner, saying you know what, you got bonuses that you didn't deserve and we want them back, on the merits."
他说：“你可以开始使用我们的所有权。我的确认为这能够让我们在法律上站得住脚。我认为我们应当要求收回那些奖金，不是作为给这个私营公司提供资金的政府，而是作为股东提出这个要求。就是说，你拿了根据你的工作表现不应当得到的奖金，我们要收回来。”
Majority Democrats in the House and Senate crafted various legislative proposals that would try to recover funds by imposing sharp taxes on bonuses paid by companies that were rescued by government bail out money.
在参众两院占多数的民主党人起草了各种立法建议，试图通过对接受政府救助资金的公司发放奖金征收高额税款的方式来追回资金。
Carolyn McCarthy was among Democrats who appeared at a news conference:
卡罗琳.麦卡锡是出席新闻发布会的民主党国会议员之一。
"How many times have members [of Congress] said to all these CEO's that have come in front of us: enough, do you get it? Stop it! And what do they do? They keep on going," said Carolyn McCarthy.
她说：“国会议员们对来到国会的那些首席执行长官说过多少次了：你们得到的足够了，知道吗？不要再这样做了！然后他们又做些什么呢？他们依然我行我素。”
New Jersey Republican Leonard Lance joined a group of newly-elected House Republicans supporting a proposal to require the government to recover bonuses.
来自新泽西州的共和党众议员伦纳德.兰斯和一些新当选的共和党议员提出一个建议，要求政府收回奖金。
"Eighty percent of AIG is now owned by the American taxpayers," said Leonard Lance. "The American taxpayers demand that this money be paid back. That is the important of this legislation and moving forward we have to work in a bipartisan way to make sure that this does not happen again."
他说：“AIG百分之80的股权目前由美国纳税人拥有。美国纳税人要求收回这笔钱。这就是这项立法的重点所在。今后，我们必须通过两党合作的方式确保这种事情不会再发生。”
While joining the expressions of outrage, Republicans also took the opportunity to suggest that the Obama administration has failed to adequately monitor how government financial rescue funds, approved under former President George Bush, were being used.
在表达义愤的同时，共和党人也借此机会表示，奥巴马政府未能对政府救助资金的使用情况进行有效监督。政府救助资金是在布什总统任内批准的。
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell questioned the U.S. Treasury Department's latest aid to AIG, $30 billion delivered just two weeks ago.
参议院少数党领袖米奇.麦克康纳尔对财政部为了拯救AIG而做出的最新援助提出质疑。这笔300亿美元的资金是两个星期前提供给AIG的。
"Wouldn't the treasury, and the taxpayer, have had more leverage over AIG's executive contracts before providing another $30 billion in tax money for them," asked Mitch McConnell. "Once that money was handed over to AIG, the leverage was lost."
他说：“难道财政部和纳税人在向AIG提供另一笔300亿美元的资金前，不应当对这家公司主管们的合同有更大的发言权吗？一旦我们把这笔钱提供给AIG，我们就没有影响力了。”
AIG CEO Liddy's testimony Wednesday to the House committee comes as lawmakers absorb details of the company pay outs, including a report from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that 73 AIG employees received bonus checks of $1 million or more.
AIG首席执行官利迪星期三在众议院小组委员会作证之前，国会议员们得到了有关这家公司奖金发放情况的细节，其中包括纽约总检察长安德鲁.科莫的报告。报告说，AIG的73个雇员得到的奖金超过100万美元。 |