Sen. Ron Wyden has something to tell Congress: "I told you so."

The Democrat insists this week that the AIG bonus scandal could have been prevented had lawmakers listened to him and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. Their stimulus measure would have capped bailout bonuses at $100,000, and would have included taxes on bonuses that exceeded the cap.

"Not a single United States senator was willing in broad daylight to stand up and oppose our bipartisan amendment … but it died in conference," Wyden told the Huffington Post. It "would have been a very strong disincentive to anybody paying out bonuses in the future."

So, now that AIG is trying to distribute $165 million in bonuses, Snowe and Wyden are trying again. This time, their bill will cap bonuses at $25,000 for all TARP recipients and other bailed-out companies. (AIG has received $170 billion in taxpayer aid in all.) Any amount over $25,000 doled out would be taxed at 35 percent. 

Taxing taxpayer-funded bonuses seems to be a popular idea this week. At least three bills introduced in the House aim to put an excise tax of 95 percent to 100 percent on the $165 million in AIG bonuses, paid out to the same financial-products unit that got the insurance giant in trouble in the first place. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-MT, also wants to put big excise taxes on bailout-bucks bonuses.

AIG CEO Edward Liddy will face a firing squad about the bonuses today when he testifies before the House Financial Services Committee at 10 AM. His company argued that bonuses need to be offered to keep and motivate the best and the brightest — especially those trying to get the companies back on their feet. But, The Washington Post reports, the frenzy is also threatening federal efforts to attract private investors to economic recovery programs.

Said Lynn Tilton, CEO of Patriarch Capital: "Am I afraid of the populist outrage? Yes."