Thursday
May202010
Bill Would Provide Immediate Economic Relief To Gulf Community
Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 11:45AM
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) introduced legislation Thursday aimed at helping businesses and communities affected by the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Landrieu’s bill would direct roughly 40 percent of oil revenues the federal government collects from companies leasing sites in the Gulf to immediately go to the states hit hardest by the disaster. Currently, most of those revenues aren’t slated to be shared until 2017, but Landrieu noted there is good reason to accelerate the pace.
Right now, she said, “There is more oil being spilled in the Gulf in one day and a half then has flowed into the entire Gulf for the last decade."
Landrieu accused the federal government of "shortchanging" the Gulf area for years in terms of helping protect states from spills and other drilling-related disasters. However, she praised the Obama administration for signing off on plans to invest $20 billion in developing the Gulf shore’s economy, and hit back against critics who argue the bill unfairly benefits a handful of states that don’t necessarily lay sole claim to the oil that is produced off their coasts.
“I’ve always conceded that [the oil] is a federal resource as opposed to a state resource,” she said. “Yet...it’s the coastal states that bear almost 100 percent of the risk.”
Landrieu estimated the price tag of her bill to be around $3 billion, but warned of course, that not passing it would cost the government far more in the long run.
Congress is expected to take up the legislation sometime next week.
Click here for more information.
Landrieu’s bill would direct roughly 40 percent of oil revenues the federal government collects from companies leasing sites in the Gulf to immediately go to the states hit hardest by the disaster. Currently, most of those revenues aren’t slated to be shared until 2017, but Landrieu noted there is good reason to accelerate the pace.
Right now, she said, “There is more oil being spilled in the Gulf in one day and a half then has flowed into the entire Gulf for the last decade."
Landrieu accused the federal government of "shortchanging" the Gulf area for years in terms of helping protect states from spills and other drilling-related disasters. However, she praised the Obama administration for signing off on plans to invest $20 billion in developing the Gulf shore’s economy, and hit back against critics who argue the bill unfairly benefits a handful of states that don’t necessarily lay sole claim to the oil that is produced off their coasts.
“I’ve always conceded that [the oil] is a federal resource as opposed to a state resource,” she said. “Yet...it’s the coastal states that bear almost 100 percent of the risk.”
Landrieu estimated the price tag of her bill to be around $3 billion, but warned of course, that not passing it would cost the government far more in the long run.
Congress is expected to take up the legislation sometime next week.
Click here for more information.
Israel Will Conduct "Credible Investigation;" BP To Pay Gov't $69 Mil, Says Gibbs
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs delivered remarks Thursday afternoon on Israeli-Palestinian relations, the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, and immigration reform.
Gibbs was questioned on the heated and controversial conflict between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian supporters on the Gaza flotilla Monday. He addressed the death of the pro-Palestinian American citizen who was killed in the attack.
"We have called for... a full and credible investigation so that we have all the facts about what happened; that is tremendously important."
However, Gibbs later conceded that, "It's an Israeli investigation ... that could include international participation," leaving some questioning the accountability of the report.
When asked about the government's response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf, Gibbs assured reporters that the Federal government will, "hold BP responsible throughout this process."
"The Federal government will, at some point today, send...a bill for 69 million dollars of expenses incurred up to this point to BP," Gibbs said.
Gibbs expressed the President's position that states' individual handling of immigration law has been the result of a lack of action on the part of the Federal government to reform its own laws, but stated that he doesn't think the nation can, "deal with comprehensive immigration reform and the circumstances around the border without dealing with Arizona."
The Press Secretary touted Senator John McCain (R-AZ) as being "instrumental" in bringing immigration reform into the spotlight and stated that he doubts the U.S. can develop comprehensive immigration reform legislation without McCain "doing what he did" in 2005, 2006, and 2007.