GOP Blocks Oil Spill Liability Bill

[spike]

Republicans for the second time blocked legislation that would increase oil companies' liability for oil spill damages, setting off criticism from Democrats seeking to make BP pay for the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Tuesday blocked a bill Democrats have put forward to raise the liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion. He said on the Senate floor he agrees the cap should be raised, but the Senate should "wait and see where the cap should be."

"If you have it too high you are going to be singling out BP and the other four largest majors and the nationalized companies, such as China and Venezuela, and shutting out the independent producers," he said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) blocked the legislation last week.

President Obama released a statement saying he is disappointed by the Republicans' objections.

"This maneuver threatens to leave taxpayers, rather than the oil companies, on the hook for future disasters like the BP oil spill," he said. "I urge the Senate Republicans to stop playing special interest politics and join in a bipartisan effort to protect taxpayers and demand accountability from the oil companies."

Roll Call reports that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), one of the sponsors of the legislation, reportedly asked, "This is really about whose side do you stand on? Do you stand up with the taxpayers or with multibillion-dollar oil companies?"

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), another co-sponsor, similarly derided the GOP.

"What we're watching here is a sham," Lautenberg said, Politico reports. "We see our friends on the other side--correct that, the people on the other side... not friendly in this case, [and we want them] to stand up and say, 'Yeah. You did it? Pay for it.'"

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that a $10 billion cap is inadequate.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20005333-503544.html

 

[catocom]

Boy, those republicans in the minority are some powerful people, ain't they?

 

[Cerise]

"There have been plenty of headlines generated by President Obama’s apparent criticism of Senate Republicans for blocking legislation to raise the oil spill liability cap. The implication has been that Obama supports the Democrats’ proposal, which would hike the cap from $75 million to $10 billion.

Not so.

Testifying before Congress yesterday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told lawmakers that the administration supports lifting the cap, but the $10 billion figure is “inadequate.”

And by “inadequate,” he didn’t mean that it’s too low (some have suggested that there should be no liability cap at all), he meant that it’s too high. Lawmakers, he said, have to be “thoughtful” not to impose a cap that pushes smaller oil companies out of business just because they can’t afford the drilling insurance.

“You don’t want only the BPs of the world to essentially be the ones that are involved in these efforts,” Salazar said.

Meanwhile, you can bet that the White House will continue blaming Republicans for blocking the same proposal that Obama himself opposes. In other words, they’ll be seeking the political gain while opposing the policy."

http://washingtonindependent.com/85...on-wants-it-both-ways-on-gulf-spill-liability

 

[catocom]

Testifying before Congress yesterday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told lawmakers that the administration supports lifting the cap, but the $10 billion figure is “inadequate.”

And by “inadequate,” he didn’t mean that it’s too low

I've notice they do that kind of word play all the time.
It's how O actually got elected.

(Thanks for making such a good example using this instance)

 

[spike]

Boy, those republicans in the minority are some powerful people, ain't they?

Yeah, they can still block stuff. We probably need less of them if their going to block stuff like this right?

 

[spike]

"There have been plenty of headlines generated by President Obama’s apparent criticism of Senate Republicans for blocking legislation to raise the oil spill liability cap. The implication has been that Obama supports the Democrats’ proposal, which would hike the cap from $75 million to $10 billion.

Not so.

Testifying before Congress yesterday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told lawmakers that the administration supports lifting the cap, but the $10 billion figure is “inadequate.”

And by “inadequate,” he didn’t mean that it’s too low (some have suggested that there should be no liability cap at all), he meant that it’s too high. Lawmakers, he said, have to be “thoughtful” not to impose a cap that pushes smaller oil companies out of business just because they can’t afford the drilling insurance.

“You don’t want only the BPs of the world to essentially be the ones that are involved in these efforts,” Salazar said.

Meanwhile, you can bet that the White House will continue blaming Republicans for blocking the same proposal that Obama himself opposes. In other words, they’ll be seeking the political gain while opposing the policy."

http://washingtonindependent.com/85...on-wants-it-both-ways-on-gulf-spill-liability

Great, an opinion piece that tries to say Obama opposes a bill because of the way they choose to interpret something the interior secretary says.

That's easy enough to disprove. Obama does not oppose the bill.

 

[spike]

I've notice they do that kind of word play all the time.
It's how O actually got elected.

(Thanks for making such a good example using this instance)

Obama got elected because his policies were better than McCain's. Cerise's opinion piece has been proven wrong.

 

[valkyrie]

Obama got elected because his policies were better than McCain's. Cerise's opinion piece has been proven wrong.

He got elected because McCain's party shanked him by putting an anchor (Palin) on the ticket with him. He should have stood his ground. I used to respect him immensely until he bent to the demands of the Far Right.

 

[catocom]

Yeah, they can still block stuff. We probably need less of them if their going to block stuff like this right?

need less reps, and dems, and more libertarians.

 

[valkyrie]

need less reps, and dems, and more libertarians.

Need less of all of the Far Left/Right and more people in the middle who understand that extremism of any kind sucks ass.

 

[Cerise]

Actually, it's an opinion piece that links to the fact that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the admin wants to work w/members of the senate and congress to determine what the appropriate cap should be, and that they haven't put out a specific number.

And just to be clear, that original link is to a video at the duhers, and re-linked here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktiJ--PqLA8



Is there something wrong with blocking a bill when Salazar himself says the determination of the amount of the cap is "something that needs to be worked through" and not arbitrarily decided on by the left?