Obama begins to rein in Congress...

[one_voice]

For more than a year, President Barack Obama set a broad, ambitious legislative agenda, and, for the most part, allowed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to let Congress to “work its will,” as Pelosi likes to say.

Those days are fast coming to an end. After watching congressional Hill Democrats squander months — and perhaps their majorities — on health reform and a grab-bag stimulus package, the White House is taking a more hands-on approach with its highest priority bills before this fall’s midterm elections.

*snip*

On Wednesday, the president, criticized for his administration’s initial response to the Gulf oil spill, offered an unusually detailed legislative proposal that added a $118 million humanitarian assistance program to Democratic bills to remove the $75 million cap on BP’s liabilities.


The package includes 26 weeks of unemployment insurance for people who lose their jobs because of the spill and loosened requirements to allow part-time and seasonal workers to be eligible. The federal government will also offer direct food assistance, increased funding for seafood inspections, small-business loans and $15 million to reimburse self-employed fisherman for their losses — ultimately paid for by BP and a penny-per-barrel hike in federal oil taxes.

*snip*


http://dyn.politico.com/members/forums/thread.cfm?catid=1&subcatid=1&threadid=4056133&start=1&CurrentPage=1

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. If this part is true, I love it.

"The package includes 26 weeks of unemployment insurance for people who lose their jobs because of the spill and loosened requirements to allow part-time and seasonal workers to be eligible. The federal government will also offer direct food assistance, increased funding for seafood inspections, small-business loans and $15 million to reimburse self-employed fisherman for their losses — ultimately paid for by BP and a penny-per-barrel hike in federal oil taxes."

[global1]

2. Doesn't This Really Mean - Utimately Paid For By The Consumer?.......

You know that any penalty that BP gets will be reflected in higher prices to the consumer. We will be paying for this.

[Tarheel_Dem]

3. How would we know? As long as we're gluttons for oil & oil products,

we're gonna get screwed either way. But, as long as the people who have been directly affected by this disaster get the help they need, I'm glad to hear that BP is picking up the tab. I don't really care if I have to pay a little more for gas.

At this point, it's as much a humanitarian disaster as it is an ecological disaster. I'll bet the news from the o.p. comes as a pleasant surprise for those directly affected, I don't think they really give a crap who pays for it.

[zipplewrath]

4. Not how markets work

Oil is a commodity and they don't care on those markets how much your costs are. Furthermore, even the down market prices for oil related products are more often than not priced based upon "what the market will bear" than on the cost of production. A cost that is specific to only one supplier won't move markets. Even a cost to the market segment doesn't always move costs, at least in the short term.

[Barack_America]

5. Are there only BP stations near you?

[Scuba]

6. 26 Weeks? The Gulf will be back in 26 weeks???

Will this in any way mitigate BP's responsibility to otherwise compensate victims?

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. How the hell do I know? I've never collected unemployment before.

Isn't 26 weeks the norm for a first time unemployment claim? I'm sure there will be extensions, just as there have been for other displaced workers, nationwide. The point is, this is a start, and it's good to know that BP is being required to pay for it.

[Scuba]

8. Not to rain on the parade, but....

If you have been making $100,00 a year, 26 weeks of unemployment is going to come to maybe $10,000. So if they can pay you that pittance for putting you out of work for years, that's a poor deal for you and a bonanza for them.

Remember, they make about $6,000,000,000 a Fiscal Quarter. So their shareholders are splitting $24 Billion dollars a year, every year, while the folks in the Gulf whose lives are ruined get $10,000, once.

Bottom line: It ain't enough.

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. WTF are you talking about? Nowhere does it say that this legislation

will bar individuals from suing the hell out of BP, and I hope they do. I'm not quite sure what your argument is. There will be class action suits out the wa-zoo for BP & Halliburton, and any other corp who was involved. It may take 10 years for anyone to see a dime, but I'm not sure what the government can do about that. The legal process has to take its course.