Guest Blog by Rep. Ben Ray Luján: AIG Bonuses Reward Corporate Irresponsibility and Recklessness,

We're pleased to have a guest blog by Rep. Ben Ray Luján, who represents New Mexico's Third Congressional District. Rep. Luján has been very outspoken about the AIG situation. Yesterday, he joined 76 other U.S. House members in signing a urging Treasury Secretary Geithner to intervene to stop the extravagant bonuses for AIG executives.

Within the economic crisis facing our families and our communities are many stories. Some are tragic stories of families losing their jobs and homes. Some are inspiring stories of communities coming together to help a struggling family or a small business. And some are selfish stories of greedy and reckless companies exploiting the financial system and the generosity of American taxpayers.

This weekend we learned that the American International Group (AIG), a company that has received $170 billion in taxpayer money to ensure its solvency, planned to give hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to its executives. These bonuses are set to go to executives at the very division within AIG that helped precipitate our economic crisis by participating recklessly financial behavior.

Executives who engage in this type of reckless and irresponsible behavior do not deserve bonuses. They certainly do not deserve hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses paid for by hard-working American taxpayers.

While small business owners in Aztec, Espanola, and Clovis are fighting to cover their payroll and desperate for credit to purchase resources they need to keep their businesses running, executives at AIG are giving themselves millions of dollars at taxpayer expense. This is wrong. We should not use tax payer dollars to reward corporate irresponsibility and recklessness, while New Mexicans are struggling each day.

I am extremely disappointed by reports of these AIG bonuses. At a time when families throughout New Mexico are struggling because of the irresponsible actions of bad actors, it is shameful for AIG to give its executives $165 million in bonuses that are paid for by hard-working taxpayers. Executives that requested federal dollars to keep their companies solvent should not funnel this money toward bonuses for their colleagues. The Obama Administration and Congress must explore every available option to prevent AIG from awarding millions of dollars of taxpayer money in bonuses to their executives.

This is a guest blog by U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D, NM-03). If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the page.