Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/feinberg-hopes-more-companies-adopt-executive-pay-rules Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The Federal Reserve curbed pay packages for executives of companies that received bailout money in an effort to discourage risky business practices. Jeffrey Brown speaks with executive pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JUDY WOODRUFF: Federal agencies moved on two fronts today to curb executive pay. It was the latest fallout from last year's financial meltdown. And it came in separate announcements by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve.Jeffrey Brown has our lead story report. JEFFREY BROWN: Under a Treasury Department order this afternoon, seven major firms that have not repaid their federal rescue funds will be the first to feel the pay pinch.They include Bank of America and Citigroup, as well as insurance giant AIG, plus General Motors and Chrysler, and their respective financing arms, GMAC and Chrysler Financial.Kenneth Feinberg, Treasury's Special Master on Compensation, laid out the limitations. A total of 175 corporate executives will be affected, including the 25 highest-paid employees at each firm. Overall compensation, including bonuses and retirement, will be cut 50 percent, on average. Cash salaries will drop an average of 90 percent, with most falling below $500,000.At the White House, President Obama praised the Feinberg plan. U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: He was faced with the difficult task of striking the proper balance between standing up for taxpayers and returning a measure of stability to our financial system.Under these competing interests, I believe he's taken an important step forward today in curbing the influence of executive compensation on Wall Street while still allowing these companies to succeed and prosper. JEFFREY BROWN: But there was criticism. Daniel Mitchell at the conservative Cato Institute said the Treasury mandate goes too far. DANIEL MITCHELL: If you wind up having second-rate people in your companies because you can't pay them enough, that's presumably going to hurt the rest of us, because our economy won't be as dynamic. JEFFREY BROWN: And a congressional oversight panel focused on a provision to let executives receive stock, in lieu of cash, so long as they hold it for four years.