Reuters – Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s pay czar, said on Sunday he has broad and "binding" authority over executive compensation, including the ability to "claw back" money already paid, and he is weighing how and whether to use that power.

Feinberg told Reuters that Citigroup Inc included the contract of energy trader Andrew Hall in submissions due Friday by seven major companies still locked in the federal government’s TARP Program.

Feinberg said he hasn’t looked at Hall’s contract, which reports have said could pay him as much as $100 million this year.

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Tags: 100-million, andrew hall, citigroup, citigroup-inc, czar, energy trader, executive compensation, federal government, kenneth feinberg, money, obama, reuters, submissions, tarp

Reuters – Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis is facing a $35 billion headache this morning after financial regulators informed the bank that was the figure it need to find now to pass the so-called stress test for viable financial institutions, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times report.

BoA already has received $45 billion in capital from the federal government, some of it to cover the disastrous purchase of Merrill Lynch.

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Tags: bank of america, boa, ceo, federal government, financial regulators, financial-institutions, headache, kenneth lewis, merrill-lynch, new york times, reuters, stress test, wall street, wall-street-journal

Associated Press – President Barack Obama is trying to dampen a fire he once stoked, urging a more tempered response to public furor over bonuses paid to executives of the publicly rescued insurance giant American International Group.

Obama is virtually certain to use Tuesday’s prime-time news conference to continue an effort that began over the weekend: cooling the anti-AIG ferocity, now that it threatens to undermine his efforts to bail out the nation’s deeply troubled financial sector.

Obama’s tone changed dramatically after the House voted last week for targeted taxes to take back most of the $165 million in bonuses paid to AIG executives. Many lawmakers felt Obama had encouraged their step, because he called the bonuses reckless, outrageous and unjustified.

In the White House, however, the situation seemed to be spinning out of control. Some fellow Democrats questioned the constitutionality and wisdom of the House’s action. Executives of other troubled companies signaled they would not make deals with a federal government that revises agreements after they are signed.

On Sunday, Obama told CBS’ "60 Minutes" the House’s plan to slap a special tax on the AIG executives would be unconstitutional. Borrowing a line from his Feb. 24 speech to Congress, he said he would not "govern out of anger."

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Tags: 60 minutes, aig, american-international-group, anger, associated press, barack obama, constitutionality, federal government, fellow democrats, ferocity, financial-sector, insurance giant, lawmakers, news-conference, prime time, public furor, time news, troubled companies, white house, wisdom