Press Release |
||
|
||
|
||
|
Washington, DC—Today, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a member of the Joint Economic Committee, joined a majority of his colleagues in passing the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act—legislation to address the perverse incentives in compensation plans that encourage executives in large financial firms to take excessive risk at the expense of their companies, shareholders, employees, and ultimately American taxpayers.
“Our nation is in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, in large part because of the reckless, risky decisions that were taken by executives incentivized by excessive compensation packages,” Congressman Cummings said. “Millions of Americans are struggling as a result of this behavior, and it is important that we take every measure necessary to prevent it from happening again in the future.”
The legislation passed today is part of a comprehensive plan for financial regulatory reform to address the events that led to the nation’s current financial crisis. It would provide shareholders of public companies with an annual, non-binding vote on the executive compensation plans of companies’ top five executives. It would also authorize federal regulators to proscribe inappropriate or risky compensation practices of financial firms with at least $1 billion in assets.
Congressman Cummings has been a vocal advocate of accountability and oversight in the financial sector, particularly among companies that have received taxpayer money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Today, he introduced H.R. 3436, the TARP Executive Disclosure Act. This legislation would require the CEO and Board Chairman of any company that receives more than $30 billion in cumulative government assistance to file the same financial disclosure report that a Cabinet secretary would be required to file upon receiving a Presidential appointment.
“As we try to rebuild our nation’s economy and move forward, it is critical that we not only address the issues that led us to this place, but also ensure that Wall Street is operating with transparency and accountability,” Congressman Cummings said. “The men and women running our country whose salaries are being paid by taxpayers are required to disclose basic information about their finances, and the CEO’s who are running companies being funded by taxpayers should have to meet this same standard.”
###
|
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]