Problems with reading comprehension Kenneth? Here, lets try this one -
Papers link Kerry, special interests
By JOHN SOLOMON
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A Senate colleague was trying to close a loophole that allowed a major insurer to divert millions of federal dollars from the nation's most expensive construction project.
Sen. John Kerry stepped in and blocked the legislation.
Over the next two years, the insurer, American International Group, paid Kerry's way on a trip to Vermont and donated at least $30,000 to a tax-exempt group that the Democrat used to set up his presidential campaign. Company executives donated $18,000 to his Senate and presidential campaigns.
Were the two connected? Kerry says not.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press provide a window into Kerry's involvement in a two-decade-old highway and tunnel construction project in his home state of Massachusetts. Known as the “Big Dig,” it became infamous for its multibillion-dollar cost overruns.
In 1999, the Transportation Department uncovered a financing scheme in which the project had overpaid $129.8 million to AIG for worker compensation and liability insurance that wasn't needed, then had allowed the insurer to keep the money in a trust and invest it in the market. The government alleged AIG kept about half of the profits it made from the investments, providing the other half to the project.
Outraged by the practice, Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, submitted a bill that would have stripped $150 million from the Big Dig and banned the practice of allowing an insurer to invest and profit from excessive premiums paid with government money.
Kerry's spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter, said Wednesday that Kerry was angered by the loophole but didn't want money stripped from the project because it would hurt his constituents.
When the “AIG investment scheme (came) to light, John Kerry called for public hearings to investigate the parties involved and the legality of the investment practices. However, he firmly believed cutting funding for the Big Dig was not the answer,” Cutter said.
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