BP is ponying up $20 billion for Gulf oil damages. And Republicans don't like it one bit

[NNN0LHI]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/say-what-gopers-slam-white-house-over-bp-gulf-spill-fund.php'

BP is ponying up $20 billion for Gulf Spill oil damages. And quite a few Republicans don't like it one bit.

The Obama administration and BP seem to have come to a solution on paying for damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with the $20 billion escrow account to pay out damages to claimants. And since everything that a president does will get attacked by opponents, some Republicans have come out strongly against it -- with the sum total of charges being that it will turn into a political slush fund procured through dirty Chicago thug tactics that will be paid out to ACORN.

• Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) vigorously attacked the idea: "The president just called for creating a fund that would be administered by outsiders, which would be more of a redistribution-of-wealth fund," Bachmann said on Tuesday, also adding that BP should say, "We're not going to be chumps, and we're not going to be fleeced." Bachmann later backtracked on Wednesday, saying that BP should pay for all of the damages involved, but that the fund should not be "an unending pot of money."

• The Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House members, released a statement Wednesday bashing the fund -- and seeming to criticize BP for accepting it. The group's chairman, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), said in a statement that while BP should be held responsible for damages, "BP's reported willingness to go along with the White House's new fund suggests that the Obama Administration is hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics. These actions are emblematic of a politicization of our economy that has been borne out of this Administration's drive for greater power and control."

• Rush Limbaugh said that the escrow fund would be a "slush fund," and wondered where the money would end up going: "Who's gonna get this money? Union activists? ACORN people? Who's gonna get this money. Let's keep a sharp eye on who Feinberg gives this money to. Because I'm telling you, this is just another bailout fund, called something else, and we'll see who gets it."

• Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) has also voiced criticism -- saying that forcing BP to pay the money now would cut into their profits, thus making it more difficult to pay more down the line. "If BP is the responsible party under the law, they're to pay for everything. I do worry that this idea of making them make a huge escrow fund is going to make it less likely that they'll pay for everything. They need their capital to drill wells. They need their capital to produce income. ... But this escrow bothers me that it's going to make them less able to pay us what they owe us. And that concerns me."

[ixion]

1. Rethugs Hate America

I think that is pretty clear.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. It is also clear

that they hate the poor and minorities as well. Notice how much they all focus on ACORN and what kind of projects they worked on.

[Bitwit1234]

24. i think they are messing themselves because

they realize if BP has to come up with 20 billion that's a lot less they can get from them for re-election and Lobbying...

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Would someone ask Limbaugh why he opposes 'bailing out' the working people?

[Hansel]

12. Because it's less money they have to pay him for spewing propaganda. nt

[MineralMan]

3. Why would anyone expect otherwise?

This is going to impact their portfolios, and BP and other oil companies may not be as eager to hire them as no-show consultants or no-show board members after they leave office.

It's impacting their bottom line, and that's obviously a bad thing to them. Of course they don't like this. It's money out of their pockets.

[zipplewrath]

4. It's one of Obama's better ideas

Strange part is, it could be a step in the "tort reform" the GOP is always complaining about.

Many companies would be willing to pay off damage claims quite quickly if they thought there would be any rationality to them. This could become a standard procedure for the future. A company pays some externally determined amount for damage. The money is distributed to people with "claims". In the process, it undercuts the "class action" claims of many suits because so many in the "class" have already been compensated. There can still be suits, but the vast majority of claimants will have already been paid. And no lawyer fees were necessary for the vast majority of people with claims.

[aquart]

5. Yes, Michele, it takes the ill-gotten gains and gives it to the people it was stolen from.

[Schema Thing]

6. And this word is why: ** PRECEDENT**

[gratuitous]

7. Responsibility is only for "small people"

And Republicans are big, Big, BIG people. Big, I tell you! Big!

[Raven]

9. It is remarkable to me that these people can be so callous and

blatant about their distain for the average American worker, especially Gulf impacted by the spill. I'm almost inclined to think that their calculation is that race hate/Obama hate in this country will trump all else and that many Americans will support them against their own best interests. I can't find any other explanation for this.

[chelsea0011]

10. So, who do they think should pay for it?

[WeDidIt]

14. They want Louisianians screaming for money and hating on the long slow process

With this fund, people will be compensated well in advance of the November elections.

They fear a blue Louisiana.

[WeDidIt]

11. There's a good reason they hate it!

Louisiana could turn blue because of it, and they damned well know it.

People who have been devastated by this will receive compensation well in advance of the Noveember elections and will be interviewed talking about how they got money.

Vitter could lose his job over this.

[Raven]

15. Wouldn't it be smarter for them to elbow Obama out of the way and

take credit for this...you know, we made Obama do it...?

[Swede]

13. And by "Chicago-style shakedown politics" they mean black

Muslim socialist Nazi.

[jp11]

16. Big companies paying damages to the small people they hurt, without getting to fight it

out in court for decades, the horror, the horror! Look out corporate America, it could happen to you! :scared:

[Oregone]

17. "aking them make a huge escrow fund is going to make it less likely that they'll pay for everything"

"saying that forcing BP to pay the money now would cut into their profits, thus making it more difficult to pay more down the line. "If BP is the responsible party under the law, they're to pay for everything. I do worry that this idea of making them make a huge escrow fund is going to make it less likely that they'll pay for everything. They need their capital to drill wells. They need their capital to produce income"

Profits aren't used to produce income. Profit is unused revenue that isn't reinvested in the business. It just sits there, and then is sent quarterly to shareholders.

This argument is nonsense. As long as not all the profit is used, and more needed, this will not effect capital whatsoever

[NotThisTime]

18. Why do they hate America??

[Uncle Joe]

20. They don't hate America, they just hate the American People.

[avaistheone1]

19. There could be well over $100 billion dollars in damages.

$10 billion is just a drop in the bucket.

[NNN0LHI]

21. So because it might cost more we shouldn't get the $20 Billion out of them now?

Is that what you are suggesting?

Don

[avaistheone1]

26. Didn't say that.

We should demand more and soon.

[PA Democrat]

22. Personal responsibility is for the "small people"

not for the sociopaths running multinational corporations, according to the Republican mindset. They never care when the "small people" lose their homes or die from lack of health care, but it is sacrilegious to impose those same standards of responsibility on a corporation. Republicans feel that corporations should get all of the benefits of "person hood" but none of the responsibilities.

[Skidmore]

23. Less money for campaign donations for them and

fewer job opportunities for the craven.

[malaise]

25. It's all good

Go ReTHUGS - keep on exposing yourselves - the sheeple are waking up.

[elias7]

27. They don't hate America, they just hate Obama

They will be opposed to everything he does and will invent their own reasons for opposing it. If Bush had done the same thing, they would have touted it as championing the little guy, holding corporations accountable, etc.

They'll never change. They are pathological liars with no concern for the truth