“We are hearing, ‘Trust us,’ but we are not willing to let $180 billion go just on trust. We will question; we will inquire; we will verify.”
-Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, in a hearing with AIG on Wednesday. The embattled insurance giant, which recieved a $180 billion-dollar bailout, claimed it had made “substantial” progress, but Congress wanted more proof. CEO Ed Liddy failed to submit the roadmap of the company’s repayment and restructuring plan that Towns had requested. Liddy argued that revealing AIG’s operating details publicly would “put us at a severe disadvantage to repay the American public.” The world’s biggest bailout lives on.–Jessica Shambora