In March 2009, AIG compounded public cynicism concerning the "too big to fail" firm's bailout by announcing that it would pay its executives over $165 million in executive bonuses. Total bonuses for the financial unit could reach $450 million, and bonuses for the entire company could reach $1.2 billion. Newly installed President Barack Obama, who had voted for TARP as a Senator responded to the planned payments by saying "t's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?" Both Democratic and Republican politicians reacted with similar outrage to the planned bonuses, as did political commentators and journalists in the AIG bonus payments controversy.