WASHINGTON -- American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after earlier payments four months ago set off a national furor. The company has been pressing the federal government to bless the payments in hopes of shielding itself from renewed public outrage.

The request puts the administration's new compensation czar on the spot, seeking his opinion about bonuses promised long before he took his post.

AIG doesn't actually need permission from Kenneth Feinberg, whom President Barack Obama appointed last month to oversee compensation of top executives at seven firms that received large federal bailouts. But officials at the troubled insurance giant, whose federal rescue package stands at $180 billion, have been reluctant to move forward without political cover.

The payments coming due next week include $2.4 million in bonuses for about 40 high-ranking corporate officers at AIG, according to administration documents earlier this year. Though the sum may have changed since then, the payments are much smaller than those that caused the March upheaval. Still, officials at AIG and within the government see them as a landmine.

Mr. Feinberg has the power to determine salaries, bonuses and retirement packages for all executive officers and the 100 most highly paid employees at firms such as Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors and AIG.

But AIG's upcoming payments do not fall under Mr. Feinberg's official purview as they involve bonuses delayed from 2008; he is charged with shaping only current and future compensation.