Thursday, June 10, 2010

Republican Leadership Wants US Taxpayers to Chip In For BP Cleanup in Gulf

The Republicans are feeling mighty confident in the runup to November's congressional mid-term elections. So confident that they're openly talking about American taxpayers picking up part of BP's tab for the Deepwater Horizon fiasco.

Talking Point Memo DC queried house minority leader John Boehner at his weekly press conference this morning and got this:

"I think the people responsible in the oil spill--BP and the federal government--should take full responsibility for what's happening there."

...So today I asked Boehner, "Do you agree with Tom Donohue of the Chamber that the government and taxpayers should pitch in to clean up the oil spill?" The shorter answer is yes.

The Chamber is extremely influential in Republican politics, so on that level it's not particularly surprising that Boehner has Donohue's back on this one. But the politics of asking the federal government (i.e. taxpayers) to help cover the multi-billion dollar cleanup and rescue efforts are deadly. Look for Democrats to jump all over this one.


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