Boehner: Government--i.e. Taxpayers--Should Help Pay For Oil Spill

[Donnachaidh]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/boehner-government--ie-taxpayers--should-help-pay-for-oil-spill.php?ref=fpa

Congressional Democrats and the White House are toying with different ways to force BP to cover the costs of damages from the Gulf oil spill. But they face stiff opposition from industry...and it seems leading Republicans. In response to a question from TPMDC, House Minority Leader John Boehner backed Tom Donohue, President of the Chamber of Commerce, in saying taxpayers should help pick up the tab.

"I think the people responsible in the oil spill--BP and the federal government--should take full responsibility for what's happening there," Boehner said at his weekly press conference this morning.

On Friday, Donohue made clear that he opposes efforts to stick BP, a member of the Chamber, with the bill. "It is generally not the practice of this country to change the laws after the game," he said. "Everybody is going to contribute to this clean up. We are all going to have to do it. We are going to have to get the money from the government and from the companies and we will figure out a way to do that."

More at the link ---

[Subdivisions]

1. Didn't Pres. Obama say last week that not a single taxpayer dollar

would be spent to clean up BP's mess?

[laughingliberal]

2. They are all against government spending until some wealth corporation has it's hand out. nt

[MineralMan]

3. Oh, do let's publicize this widely, so that voters will know what

GOOPers stand for. Let's you and him pay for BP's negligence. Boehner has pulled a boner, I think.

[Mz Pip]

4. Hypocretin

Boner is opposed to the government interferance in the private sector except in cases where it might cost the corporation a bunch of money.

I'm sure the taxpayers are already paying for this. There are several government agencies involved, at least peripherally, and they are being funded on taxpayers' money.

[jtuck004]

5. Given that it our appetite for oil, and our inability to sustain efforts

to find other, better, and safer alternatives a case could be made for the taxpayer picking up part of the tab.

But if the taxpayers have to pick up their part, BP needs to be held accountable for their fraudulent, deceptive, and negligent filing and response. Up to and including the company going bankrupt so the management that caused this tragedy has to apply for new jobs.

If a securities dealer commits fraud - heck, if a blackjack dealer commits fraud - the organizations that are in charge of their licensing can keep them from working in the field for some period of time, extending to forever. We should have the same ability to restrict the employment of managers who seem to favor profit over, say, killing an ocean.

[sui generis]

6. have no fear we will

When BP declares bankruptcy on its U.S. operation it will default on its bills for the cleanup and damages, you can be certain of that. We will be obligated to re-characterize our "tax dollars" as covering BP's obligation, not the actual cleanup itself, but it will come to pass.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. GOP trying to give taxpayers money to BP? How much did BP give him?

[pansypoo53219]

8. he's in favor of a BAILOUT???

to a KNOWN repeated DESPOILER??? a CORPORATE BAD ACTOR? how republikkklans could he get.

[4lbs]

9. I agree. Everyone in the BushCo WH should help pay for this.

Bush, Cheney, Rove, Gale Norton (head of the Department of Interior from 2001-2006), Julie MacDonald (Deputy Asst Secretary of the Department of Interior from 2002 to 2006), Dirk Kempthorne (Secretary of the Dept of Interior from 2006 to Jan 2009), and everyone in the MMS from 2001 to 2008.

[crazyjoe]

13. doesn't the obama administration have folks overseeing this kind of thing?

I mean, he has been in office for 1 1/2 years, is that not enough time to ask BP about emergency plans for their deep water drilling platforms?
Maybe they will be better at handling health care, but I somehow doubt it.

[4lbs]

15. A lot of those folks in the Department of Interior and MMS were burrowed BushCo plants.

So, they continued to look the other way during 2009 and 2010 until the April explosion at the rig.

[Angry Dragon]

10. As long as he has gotten money from them he should

be willing to pay back. Him and everyone else that voted for deregulation should put up $10,000,000 each. Let them stand up for their votes. It is time to make these people responsible for their votes.

He should put in the first $10,000,000 out of his own pocket first. Show us all how it should be done.
When he puts up the money I will give him a dollar back.

[fascisthunter]

11. there's the truth... forget his "conservo" lip smacking garbage

this man represents the wealthy right wing nutters(oil industry).

[crazyjoe]

12. well, technically the US government allowed them to deep water drill

without some type of emergency shut off. While it does not make sense to you and me why they were allowed to do this, it does make us somewhat responsible for what happened.
People need to go to jail for this.

[Angry Dragon]

14. I would agree with you on this, but I think the ones

that voted for deregulation, past and present congress members, government employees that allowed regulations to be not enforced, people who signed the deregulations, and corrupt execs, they should be the ones to pay.

[City Lights]

16. Of course! Privatize profits and socialize losses! It's the GOP motto.

Go cheney yourself, Orange Boner.

[AndyA]

17. Keep it up, Republicans. You all are going to prove once again you're STUPID IDIOTS

Do you think people are going to take kindly to a bail out of BP?

After the bail out of Wall Street?

After the bail out of the auto makers?

After paying over $4.00/gallon for gas in 2008?

After reading about the OBSCENE PROFITS oil companies have been making for years?

And now, with almost 10 percent unemployment, record foreclosures, a slow economy, and a fed up public, you Republicans are going to give your corporate masters another blow job and expect the American taxpayer to pick up part of the tab for this?

Keep it up, you'll lose more House and Senate seats than anyone could possibly imagine! No one will agree to this. No one. IDIOTS.

[gratuitous]

18. If you're going to make someone responsible . . .

They have to have authority. Why are Boehner and his Republican cronies standing in the way of funding and authorizing better government oversight of these corporate thugs and murderers? If we the people have to foot the bill when things go so horribly wrong, we should at least have our hand on the steering wheel, right? Boehner seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth and (surprise, surprise) the beneficiaries are his fatcat bankrollers, while the responsible parties are ordinary citizens.

[mzmolly]

19. Obama's Katrina?

:rofl: Fools!

[denverbill]

20. Boehner's BP Bail-Out. That's a winning plan for Republicans in November.n/t

[LaurenG]

21. Boehner is nearly always spectacularly ignorant

He usually has something self serving to say as well, makes me wonder about his associations with bp.