Tom Price

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. If I claim the time in opposition, does the minority have the right to claim that time?

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to my friend from Texas (Mr. Culberson).

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, we have no more speakers on this side, so until the chairman is ready to close, I will reserve.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the deputy ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer).

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) such time as he may consume.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, I just received this. My understanding is that this is removing the words ``executive or'' among those individuals who would come under the jurisdiction of determining what compensation ought to be or performance ought to be, so that it would read that ``any employee.'' Is my understanding correct?

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. And I appreciate that. Continuing to reserve the right to object, my sense is that what this is, is actually a clarifying amendment to a greater intent by the Members on the majority side who----

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry).

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett) for 5 minutes.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I think it is important to appreciate that this bill is very far-reaching. It is not just a simple little exclusion of an amendment that was inserted in the middle of the night on the previous $1 trillion spending bill that the majority passed. It includes compensation arrangements and includes compensation limitation potential by the Secretary of the Treasury. It also includes performance-based standards that are also defined by the Secretary of the Treasury. Now what does that mean? The performance in the bill or the performance of an individual executive or employee to whom the payment relates? The adherence by executives or employees to appropriate risk management requirements? And ``other standards which provide greater accountability to shareholders and taxpayers.'' What is all that? Well, Mr. Chairman, I would suggest that we don't know what all that is. And that is why the American people are so concerned about these issues. Because they know that the faith that they have in the American system of government and the American marketplace does not rest in the Secretary of the Treasury. It does not rest in the government. It rests in the ingenuity and the vitality of the American people. And that is where they want it to remain.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, though I am not opposed.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I want to commend my friend from California for introducing this amendment. I think that it's a good idea, but in my view, doesn't go far enough. I would also point out that it is purely arbitrary, and that gets to the heart of the challenge that we have here, the arbitrary nature of what we're deciding. Small financial institutions should be automatically exempt from this legislation. The best approach to protecting the taxpayers' investment in private business is through stronger oversight and accountability, not by further entrenching government in the operations and management of hundreds of businesses across America, many of which are community and regional banks that did nothing, as my friends have commented, to create the current financial challenge. Indeed, given the government's track record in piling up huge deficits and mismanaging a wide range of Federal programs, there is little reason to believe that it will have any more success in running private enterprises. The amendment leaves the discretion to the Secretary of the Treasury to exempt community financial institutions from the legislation's compensation prohibitions. I would suggest, Mr. Chairman, that rather than leaving this responsibility to the Treasury Secretary who, I might add, failed to block the AIG bonuses and who, by his own admission, has a very full plate these days. Why not simply exempt smaller TARP recipients entirely from the government micromanagement of compensation levels for all employees that this bill imposes? I would reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, how much time remains?

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of our time to Mr. Bachus from Alabama.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, though I am not opposed to the amendment. Parliamentary Inquiries

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Does the chairman of the committee not have time available to him on general leave?

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition. Parliamentary Inquiry