"Dems: We'll dare GOP to side with Big Oil"

[Clio the Leo]

Dems: We'll dare GOP to side with Big Oil

This could get interesting: Senate Democratic leaders plan to repeatedly push legislation next week to lift the liability cap on oil companies, in an effort to dare Republicans to side with Big Oil and oppose lifting the burden on taxpayers to clean up disasters like the Gulf oil spill, aides tell me.

With the politics of oil seemingly as slippery as ever, Dems already tried for a vote on such legislation yesterday, only to have it blocked by GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The bill would have hiked the ceiling of liability for oil companies from $75 million to $10 billion after an oil spill.

Dem Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey asked for a voice vote on the bill yesterday, but Murkowski opposed it on the grounds that it could hurt what some are derisively calling "Small Oil" -- small companies that could get priced out of the market.

Senate Dem leaders reacted angrily yesterday to Murkowski's blocking of the bill. And now they say they're going to push the issue next week, by calling for more votes on it. Harry Reid spokesman Jim Manley emails:

"Senate Democrats, led by Senators Menendez, Lautenberg and Nelson, are going to continue next week to pass common-sense legislation to ensure that BP pays for the full cost of cleanup and that taxpayers in Nevada and across America are protected.

"Inexplicably, Republicans are protecting negligent oil companies like BP and blocking our efforts to prevent a BP bailout. Through their obstruction, Republicans are leaving taxpayers on the hook to pay for BP's negligence."

That's a reference to senators Frank Lautenberg and Bill Nelson. It's unclear how many Republican Senators would oppose this measure if it came to a vote, since they haven't been forced to take a stand on it, thanks to Murkowski's willingness to carry the oil, as it were, by blocking the vote.

But Dems intend to try to force the issue next week, at a time when the evolving disaster's consequences, political and environmental alike, remain murky and unknowable.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/05/dems_well_force_republicans_to.html

[truebrit71]

1. .."right after we get all of our folks on board.."

...BFD...