Moving with unusual speed, the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation to recoup most of the $165 million in bonuses paid to American International Group Inc employees.

Responding to public and political outrage to the bonuses after the insurer received a government bailout up to $180 billion, lawmakers voted 328-93 for a bill to impose a 90 percent tax on bonuses for executives whose incomes exceed $250,000.

The tax would apply to executives of any company that received at least $5 billion in government bailout money. A different measure to recover the bonus money was expected to be considered by the Senate.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Susan Cornwell, editing by Neil Stempleman and David Storey)

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