Bailout companies or bank executives have been ordered cut top salaries in half and even as high as 90 percent, ordered by the Obama Administration under the direction of “Pay Czar” Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury official in charge of setting compensation for bailed-out companies.

Targeted companies or positions include senior employees at Citigroup, Bank of America, American International Group, and General Motors and Chrysler financial institutions. A slash in pay will affect as many as 175 bailout executives.

Bailout companies received a total of $700 billion through the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP; the company’s aforementioned about $250 billion of that figure. Additionally, Feinberg has stated executives will have to seek permission from the government before accepting any perks.

That means country club memberships, chauffeured drivers, private planes and company cars worth more than $25,000 will have to be cleared by the Treasury.

Smaller companies and those that have already paid back their bailout money, such as Goldman Sachs, are not expected to cut top earners’ pay.

Feinberg, who was named special master on compensation by the administration in June, has sole discretion to set compensation for the five top senior executives plus the next 20 highest-paid people at each of the seven companies.

The slash in pay is a direct result of Feinberg having met with the officials at each of the firms to negotiate executive-pay arrangements over the last few months.

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