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Career change: Gramm turns to bankingSenator sits on banking committee
From Dana Bash (CNN Washington Bureau)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Retiring Sen. Phil Gramm announced Monday that upon leaving the Senate this year, he will move to the private sector as an investment banker -- joining an industry that he now oversees as a lawmaker. The three-term Texas Republican will become the vice chairman of UBS Warburg, one of the world's largest investment banks. Gramm, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, brushed off questions about whether the move is appropriate, given his current responsibilities on the oversight committee. "There's something to be said for not having people who just came in off the turnip truck," said Gramm. He said this is not a lobbying job, and they hired him for "what I know, not who I know." "In the Senate, I championed policies to promote economic growth, free trade and job creation. I am delighted that in my next career I will be involved in actually creating new jobs and economic growth in America and around the world," said Gramm. Gramm spent more than two decades in Congress as an advocate of free market policies and limited government regulation. Before running for office, Gramm was an economics professor at Texas A&M. "I'm as excited about starting a career in investment banking as I was the day got my Ph.D. or the day I was elected to Congress," said Gramm. John Costas, chairman and CEO of UBS Warburg, said, "Senator Gramm has been at the center of every debate on financial matters for the past quarter century," and called him a "first-rate talent." Gramm did not disclose his compensation package, except to say that he will be paid considerably more than he is as a senator. The annual salary for a senator is $145,100. He said he had talked to about a dozen companies about working for them, but UBS Warburg was the only company with whom he negotiated a contract. When Gramm announced his retirement earlier this year, he publicly pondered whether he would go back to Texas to become a goat herder. When asked why he decided against that, he responded bluntly that "there wasn't enough money in it." Gramm will work out of the firm's New York office, but said his primary residence will be in San Antonio, Texas.
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