John Culberson of Texas is on the floor of the House, attacking Alan Grayson by saying that his bill to limit bonuses to TARP recipients is bad because the House rushed the Stimulus bill. Barney Frank is responding with shock — Grayson’s bill takes away the language that Culberson says "should not have been" in the stimulus bill.

These people are incoherent. They are going to vote against a bill limiting bonuses? Really?

Dec. 11 — According to Bloomberg/LA Times Poll, 76% of Americans think TARP recipients should cancel all year-end bonuses to employees.

March 29 — CBS News Poll finds 83% think AIG could have found a way not to pay the bonuses, and 77% think the government should try and recover them.

Culberson is asking for "transparency," to have the bill out long enough for them to read. It’s five and a half pages long and was marked up in the Financial Services Committee last week. How long does it take for this guy to read?

Grayson is under wingnut attack for what he said about Republicans to the Washington Examiner:

Grayson, the Florida Democrat who wrote the bill, told me its basic message is "you should not get rich off public money, and you should not get rich off of abject failure." Grayson expects the bill to pass the House, and as we talked, he framed the issue in a way to suggest that virtuous lawmakers will vote for it, while corrupt lawmakers will vote against it.

"This bill will show which Republicans are so much on the take from the financial services industry that they’re willing to actually bless compensation that has no bearing on performance and is excessive and unreasonable," Grayson said. "We’ll find out who are the people who understand that the public’s money needs to be protected, and who are the people who simply want to suck up to their patrons on Wall Street."

Wow, this is a great show. They are pitching a wild fit defending their vote to protect AIG’s bonuses. Let’s see Cantor whip this.

2:55: Jim Himes, co-sponsor of the bill who received more money from Goldman Sachs than anyone who wasn’t running for the presidency last year, and is still pushing legislation to limit executive bonuses, speaking.

2:59: Virginia Fox trying to use this forum to attack people for their stimulus votes. Big show to cover for their impending votes on behalf of "their patrons on Wall Street."

3:00: Shelly Berkeley (D-VA) is upset about travel being limited for TARP recipients. The five page bill doesn’t deal with travel. Idiot.

3:01: Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), "Who can say what compensation limits should be?" Let’s see…where’s my pencil…add six, carry the three…I’d say roughly 77% of Americans. Tea parties!

3:04: Barney Frank — they were upset that we didn’t apply Dodd’s rule retroactively, and now they’re upset that they’re applying at all? It is a revolt against the king…King George…Bush…who wouldn’t allow compensation limits when TARP first passed last year.

3:10: Spencer Bachus — "This bill claims to be about executive compensation, but what it really is is just another step in expanding the size, the involvement and more importantly control of the federal government not only in the private sector, but of all aspects of our lives." Wow. Vote for this bill, they’ll take your guns? Now it’s "ACORN will get our tax dollars and I won’t be able to give money to my church." I’m having trouble following this.

3:19: Bachus proves he knows how to read.