And what if the Congress all of a sudden decided to pass legislation taxing all of your income at 90 percent and confiscating 90 percent of the contents of your bank accounts, just because you took the standard deduction or personal exemption on your 2008 tax return?
What Congress did to AIG and TARP recipients was illegally impose an ex post facto law that retroactively changed the legal status of a particular private action, namely the payment of previously agreed upon bonuses to various employees of private corporations that had later accepted "bailout" money (the provision of which was itself unconstitutional) from the Federal Government.
Ex post facto laws and bills of attainder are explicitly forbidden by the U.S. Constitution in Article I, Section 9.
Any and all Representatives who swore oaths to defend and support the Constitution and to "well and faithfully discharge" the duties of their offices — regardless of party affiliation — and yet still voted to affirm the aforementioned ex post facto ought to resign, as they are unfit to serve as Federal elected officials.
Of course, in the age where it's okay to violate and run ramshod over the Constitution, according to both parties, then hey, if Congress can pass ex post facto laws without the executive branch, the judicial branch, or the electorate themselves checking the power of Congress, then Congress can also summarily restrict or disparage the individual citizen any of his or her rights as defined in the first Ten Amendments.
But hey, most of the Republicans voted for it, as you say, so it must be okay. Behold, the wonders of democracy, mob rule, and moral relativism! And you dare to call yourself a conservative... /sarc
then i guess its up to you to run 3rd party candidates who are more conservative than republicans good luck
you are singling out this one representative when it seems half, including the republican leadership, voted for it
misleading at its best