MSNBC "Interview With Senator Olympia Snowe" - Transcript

Interview

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MS. O'DONNELL: And more questions today from lawmakers about who knew what and when, including some who wrote a provision that could have prevented this entire thing. And one of those Senators, Olympia Snowe, Republican from Maine, joins me now.

Senator, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. SNOWE: Thank you, Norah.

MS. O'DONNELL: There's a real whodunit going on on Capitol Hill, a real mystery, and Senator, I want you to explain it because you won passage of a provision earlier this year, along with Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, but it was then dropped.

Tell us what that amendment would have done.

SEN. SNOWE: Well, that amendment essentially would have recovered and recaptured the $18.4 billion worth of bonuses that had been issued by many of the financial institutions that were recipients of the TARP funds, including Merrill Lynch that issued $3.6 billion in January on the eve of their acquisition by Bank of America. And that's what prompted it.

MS. O'DONNELL: So, Senator, you knew about this! You predicted this along with Senator Wyden. It passed! And then someone took it out? Who did that?

SEN. SNOWE: Well, that's a very good question. Obviously, I wasn't a formal conferee. My staff was working with various staff people to conferees, but we could never ascertain exactly what the problem is.

I think that, obviously, if the administration had supported this initiative, it would have been part of it, but rather they came out with a modification that essentially watered it down, and we're in the situation that we are in today.

In fact, I should tell you that our provision would have been applicable to AIG in this circumstance as well.

MS. O'DONNELL: Well, that's what's so important is that -- what you foresaw this problem, this could -- this whole mess could have been avoided.

I want to get to this point because I think it's important. The Snowe-Wyden provisions were replaced by a less restrictive set of conditions backed by Senator Chris Dodd and, as you said, accepted by the White House.

Have you asked Senator Dodd whether he removed your provision?

REP. SNOWE: No, I have not asked Senator Dodd. I --

MS. O'DONNELL: Do you think he did it?

REP. SNOWE: I have no idea.

MS. O'DONNELL: Is he a conferee?

REP. SNOWE: I know he was resistant obviously, being chair of the Banking Committee and the stimulus package, but I do know that the administration was resistant to this provision, and I'm sure that had -- that weighed heavily on the conferees. I really don't know.

I'm obviously -- it's regrettable it isn't part of it because we wouldn't be in this circumstance today that further undermines the public's confidence in the direction we're taking, most especially giving their hard-earned taxpayer dollars to companies who engaged in unconscionable greed.

MS. O'DONNELL: Well, we've got a banner that says, "AIG's CEO in the hot seat," but what it really should say is that "Could this have been avoided?"

And it probably could have been --

REP. SNOWE: It could have been.

MS. O'DONNELL: -- if your provision had been kept in that bill.

REP. SNOWE: Right.

Don't you want to find out who took that out --

REP. SNOWE: Well, I --

MS. O'DONNELL: -- in the dead of the night? How is it that you don't even know who got rid of that?

REP. SNOWE: I do, and, yes, I am deeply frustrated but I was at the time because I had numerous conversations with my staff people. I had indicated to people at the -- you know, at the White House as well that this was a very important provision.

Ron Wyden --

MS. O'DONNELL: Mm-hmm.

REP. SNOWE: -- who was the author of this, was very adamant about it and we worked mightily. It was regrettable --

MS. O'DONNELL: Senator, I think --

REP. SNOWE: -- it wasn't part of it. Absolutely.

MS. O'DONNELL: -- when we hear about this, I think that the outrage is -- it's over things like that, that those of you who are inclined to do good government get thwarted, that with these bonuses up on Capitol Hill, where's the government oversight?

The White House says they learned about it last week, that the Treasury secretary learned about it on Tuesday, that the president was informed on Thursday, the bonuses handed out on Friday, and then Edward Libby --

REP. SNOWE: Yeah.

MS. O'DONNELL: -- the CEO, says today that the Fed has known about it all along?

How does that make any sense at all?

REP. SNOWE: It doesn't, and I don't think we can even try other than to say -- is that people have to jettison the Wall Street culture. That has what has really imperiled our economic system, and I am very frustrated because this could have been all avoided.

We could have addressed it, and it should have been addressed. It didn't take Einstein to figure out when Wall Street had already given $18.4 billion in bonuses in 2008 and including in January by Merrill Lynch that they were -- the other companies weren't going to engage in these activities.

So, that's why Ron and I were prompted to address this issue because it had already been disclosed what they were doing and what they were capable of doing, totally ignoring the hardship they've imposed on so many Americans.

MS. O'DONNELL: Senator, quickly, the president said today he has full confidence in the Treasury secretary. Do you have full confidence in the Treasury secretary?

REP. SNOWE: Well, that's up to -- that's up to the president, but I do say this: The Secretary of the Treasury really has to step up to the plate and exert leadership and understand that he has to reject the Wall Street culture.

He worked in New York. He's proud of the New York Federal Reserve. He has to understand that this is a new day, and, clearly, he's going to have to turn the corner on these issues if he -- if he's going to be getting the confidence of the American people at this unprecedented time in American history.

MS. O'DONNELL: Great interview. Great information. Senator Snowe, Thanks so much for joining us.

REP. SNOWE: Thank you.

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