Media

Our nation's troubled financial industry has spurred calls for greater transparency, tougher accounting rules and greater oversight by federal regulatory agencies. Given what we now know about the irresponsible - and sometimes criminal - behavior of the executives of many of these institutions, such calls are justified. But there is another, larger, more powerful and less transparent institution that continues to operate in relative secrecy, and that is the Federal Reserve.

During the past two weeks I hosted a series of town halls throughout the Fourth District. These meetings were an important opportunity for me to listen, take questions and provide answers directly to my constituents. While the questions were diverse, a sizable number of them revolved around policies that the President has proposed or implemented since taking office. Many Oklahomans are deeply concerned over the President's out of control spending, as well as with his apparent neglect of our nation's military.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) made the following remarks on the House floor last night opposing the Majority's budget proposal.

"Mr. COLE: I thank the gentleman for yielding. And, Madam Chair, I rise to oppose this Democratic budget. As we have heard repeatedly tonight, it spends too much, it taxes too much, and it borrows too much.

But I want to be fair to my friends on the Democratic side. There is one area of the budget where there is a glaring exception to that rule, and that is the defense of the United States of America.

The nation's capitol has recently been caught up in controversy surrounding Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and American International Group (AIG). In what many are calling "bonus-gate," it was revealed that after receiving an additional thirty billion dollars in government bail out funds, AIG awarded 169 million dollars in bonuses to their top executives. The public outrage over this caused the liberals in Congress to run for cover and sent the administration's spin machine into overdrive.