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Geithner takes lashing from Democrats and Republicans at AIG hearing
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner endured a public lashing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, with some of the fiercest criticism coming from Democrats.
While no Democrats called for Geithner to resign, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) slammed the former head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for giving taxpayers a raw deal in the bailout of American International Group (AIG).
"You had every opportunity, every opportunity to weigh in on behalf of the American people and make these people take a new deal," Lynch said, referring to banks that were bailed out in full because they were business partners with AIG. "I just think it was a terrible decision on your part … It just stinks to high heaven what happened here."
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, referred to AIG as a "looted corpse."
Meanwhile, Republicans seem ready to keep up the attacks on Geithner, with some calling for his resignation.