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

But there's no difference between Republicans & Democrats, right?

It's unbelievable that this can't be trumpted around the airwaves for the blunder it is. The American public is exhausted from bailing out Wall Street and Detroit. BP clears $67 million a day, and they have their hand out? How could The Orange Boner have teed up a better issue? If only there was a Democratic Echo Chamber...

Look for Democrats to jump all over this one.

Given the Dems' reputation for working the media, I'll be waiting with bated breath.

What's this guy smokin'?? BP was negligent (if news reports are accurate), MMS was staffed by the Repubs with drug and sex addicts who weren't interested in oversight (except maybe porn) and this bozo wants us to pay for the clean up. I'm usually pretty moderate, but this may be a time with Sec. Reich is right. Put BP in receivership until this thing is finished.

I think I'll wait and see how the 'lamestream' media jumps all over this.
Waiting
waiting
waiting
etc, etc,etc

The small guv'mint Republicans need billions in taxpayer funds to bail out a British firm that ruined American waters.

The goverment needs to stay out of the way.
Unless I make a mess of things.
The the government needs to come in and clean up after me.

And while you're at it, KEEP THE GOVERMENT AWAY FROM MY MEDICARE.
And cut my taxes.

How's this for starters,
"Today, John Boehner said he wants to raise your taxes to clean up the mess made by British Petroleum. Do you want to give John Boehner and BP more of your paycheck?"

So asking taxpayers to spread around the cost of health care is bringing us one step closer to the gulag, but it's OK to make taxpayers pay to clean up BP/Halliburton/Transocean's mess? Republicans: Please articulate a theory of government/view of social contract that would make sense of this. Thank you.

Hey...Hey... You morons wined and loobied congress to do away with the regulations that were set to prevent this... You got what you wanted. Now pay the piper.

Take it for a vote and every single Republican who votes for the government to pick up the tab will LOSE their seat come November.

We need to have congress pass a law which states something such as...
"Whenever Congress suggests taxpayers pay for any project, the congressman sponsoring the bill must NAME the taxpayers who will be required to pay, rather than the all inclusive but inappropriate GOVERNMENT."

If the Dems do not jump all over Boehner & Donohue & the Republicks, then they truly do deserve to lose a lot more this November than we think they will.

How about any politician who took oil company lobbying money coughing it up for starters? For that matter how about any lobbying firm who made money shilling for oil companies chipping in? Anyone who voted to put Nero and Caligula in charge of the Minerals and Mining Service pony up? Those politicians who stripped the government of it's oversight capabilities and let the extractive industries police themselves ought to fork over their ill gotten gains and quit talking about bankrupting our government and we taxpayers further.

Can the barbarians turn off the lights when they leave the smoking wreckage on the shining hill?

The Republicans always have been the Dems best weapon
Ask Harry Reid

Gotta love it

I think the GOP should stop spending their money at the lesbian bondage theme clubs, and bail out their own Patron.

and watch as mr hopey changey -- in his endless quest for bipartisanship -- agrees to a 50/50 split. because, afterall, he's publicly stated how he's responsible.

I totally agree with the Minority Leader, but only after every assest that BP has is expended on this disaster. Then, when they are bankrupt and disolved, if more is needed the country will step up. It wouldn't hurt to have the government require a mandatory fund be set up with all of the oil companies contributing if they want to continue ANY offshore drilling ever again.

This is a wholly corporate disaster, aided considerably by the tens of millions that Big Oil and other business interests pour into American elections each year. BP makes tens of millions of dollars in profits every day and has hundreds of billions in assets. They must be appropriated by the government.

http://www.sunstateactivist.org/campaigncorner/

Why is the government responsible for the deadly decisions of BP, Halliburton and other oil industry toadies the Bush govt. put into place in regulatory agencies?

Hell no! Make BP pay for this mess.

And while you're at it, Dems, Boehner just handed you an issue that EVERY Democrat in the country can run on - vote for us, or the GOP led Congress will make you pay for BP.

That's it.

The gloves are off, game on, representatives that are supposed to be by and for the people are sociopathic, economic, and environmental rapists.

Anyone supporting this idea or this man is either obscenely wealthy or insane.

The Republicans don't care how it looks anymore.

Their base wants them to be bat-shit crazy Obama-haters and corporate whores. So that's what they give them.

What do they have to lose?

"Oil company BP's credit default swaps (CDS) widened to levels associated with a "junk" rated company as its shares and bonds all deteriorated sharply in a self-reinforcing move."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6501OR20100601

There's two BPs involved here: the oil company and Boehner's Pockets (or his campaign committees) which I'm sure have been well oiled with funds from this industry.

BP Debt and Shares in Self-feeding Downspin

"Oil company BP's credit default swaps (CDS) widened to levels associated with a 'junk' rated company as its shares and bonds all deteriorated sharply in a self-reinforcing move."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65921420100610

Pay as you go or more debt?

Seriously, was Boehner for giving aid to Katrina victims or was he against it because they didn't they give him campaign contributions?

He's an idiot.

Dear "Representative" Boehner,

You are a fucking moronic orange-skinned corporatist-fellating asshole.

I'm surprised you're not in favor of cleaning the oil off waterfowl by pissing on them.

Has Boehner been soaking in oil to achieve that nice orange tone?

This here is BS!! Why in the blue fvck should we bail them out too? Do we share in their profits? Don't they go up on gas prices anytime they feel like it? Isn't this a cost of doing business? Make them responsible for the ENTIRE clean-up bill..no loans, no nothing. They made enough in profits over the last few years to be able to afford it.

And tell me again why the taxpayers should pay for this.......??

If Rep. Boehner wants "the government" to take part of the responsibility, then he can just send the bill to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The American taxpayers are not a bottomless pit of money for Republicans and Democrats to siphon off of when their big money campaign contributors get into a jam. We've already paid more than we should have for oil and gas during the Bush Administration when gasoline shot up to between $3 and $4 a gallon. BP has more money than it knows what to do with. This is THEIR mess. It is THEIR responsibility to clean up. It is THEIR responsibility to pay for the disruptions this leak has caused in the lives and incomes of thousands across multiple states. It is THEIR responsibility to PAY FOR IT THEMSELVES. These conservatives love to talk about things like "personal responsibility." Since their activist buddies on the Roberts court (SCOTUS) love the idea that coporations are just like persons when it comes to making campaign contributions. But when it comes to these corporations acting responsibly they start singing a different tune. Are people that vote for the GOP EVER going to wake up? Or do they just crave being bent over time and again by these plutocrats???

Good ol' Agent Orange - he always delivers the crazy.

The notion that liability limits are necessary to prevent the monopolization of offshore drilling by large corporations represents deeply flawed thinking. Only companies with sufficient capitalization to cover the costs of potential disasters such as this one should be allowed to drill. Conversely, the companies that do drill should be acutely aware of their responsibilities should accidents of this sort occur, as fear of the consequences of sloppy management would help induce responsible behavior.

Why indeed should the thousands upon thousands of people (hundreds of thousands? milliions?) whose livelihood depends on the environmental quality of the Gulf be subjected to the effects of the catastrophe that BP has caused and have no (or insufficient) recourse for recovering their losses? Does anyone really believe that the US taxpayer should be expected to cover that burden?

This is just another case of 'privatize the gains, socialize the losses' that sees our society subjugated to the greed and power of large corporations.

The situation also puts the lie to the notion promoted by the John Roberts and the conservative block on the Supreme Court that corporations are equivalent to individual citizens in terms of their rights. Their rationale is that the collective body of the investors in the corporation has the same rights of free speech as an individual. If corporations are equivalent to individuals, then if criminal negligence on the part of BP is proven, can we not expect the shareholders to then go to prison?

Everybody repeat it with me; privatize profits, socialize costs.

Ok, so let me get this straight a Republican by the name of Boehner, wants to shaft the American tax payer? Yet he opposes sticking BP with the bill. Wow! I bet every stand up comic from here to Timbuktu will get a rise out of that one.
Makes perfect sense to me!

This is how Boy-Ner wants to respond to an attack on the U.S by a bloodthirsty, greedy multinational corporation?

No, what needs to be done here is that all major BP executives should be rounded up and arrested for environmental crimes. Then their pathetic company should be placed into receivership, and all profits should be devoted to cleaning up the Gulf for the next 50 years -- because that's how long it's going to take to get any kind of a recovery.

This is a far more devastating attack on U.S. soil than 9/11. A lot fewer people killed but one hell of a lot more devastation to our nation. The BP terrorists are no better than the 9/11 terrorists in my book.

According to GOP and Boehner, taxpayers should help BP and not the struggling homeowners who are under water or small business who cannot get any loans.

OMG-
I just heard the most frightening thing on underground radio, from former oil people...

Wondering why everyone is acting so strange about the oil spill and no cameras? And a denial of the plumes?

Intelligent speculation is that the drilling hit too deep, and caused a sort of volcano effect, hitting something like magna, releasing toxic chemicals, such as hydrogen sulfide and benzyne, at levels thousands of times toxic.

The plumes are actually "cracks" in the earth, not the drill hole but all over the bottom of the Gulf, because of this destabilization, out of which these toxic chemicals are coming.

The oil and even the dispersant are like candy compared to this, which is why people are getting sick. Many will eventually get cancer and birth defects. Its going to make a cancer cluster look like heaven.

That is why they are not doing much. They are sitting on a potential beyond nightmare.

I think I am going to be sick.

Anyone else hearing this stuff?

TO: Brian Beutler

Do you write for the National Enquirer? Huffington Post? Get your facts straight. Oh, that's right - you write for a marginally accurate site.

Said it before and say it again, Sunshine Johnny is Ohio's gift to the Ripley Hall of Shame.

his tongue is as black and squishy as that crude

Let's get this straight: Boehner, who fights against ANY regulations on Corporations, is arguing that since the Government DIDN'T regulate BP, that means taxpayers should pay for the cleanup.

Are Conservatives really Hypocrites or do they think that all of us are stupid?

Aside from the Executive Douchebags at BP, blame for this disaster lies squarely with Conservatives and with DAN QUAYLE'S COMPETITIVENESS COUNCIL. Conservatives/Regressives/Fascists made the push to deregulate EVERYTHING in the name of unfettered profits so all of those Millionaires and Billionaires out there should foot the entire bill for cleanup as well as financing R&D for developing alternative energy sources to get the world OFF the oil they make so much money from.

Who needs foreign Terrorists when we have Conservatives/Regressives making their best effort to destroy the USA from the inside out.

No, an emphatically NO, Mr. Boner! The present administration should freeze all financial accounts in the names of George W. Bush and Mr. Dick Cheney, have both men and their staffs subpoenaed to answer under oath the real reasons why the regulatory agencies did not do their JOBS. My conjecture is they had been threatened of losing their jobs and pensions should they attempt to oversee the dirty oil industry. Same thing happened when the oil industry was threatened with the EV-1 automobile, California! You should have stood your ground back then, maybe the Gulf of Mexico would still be blue instead of OILY BLACK!!

The world mostly agrees that attacking Iran to punish their practices is socially appropriate, given a history of Iran making us generally nervous about industrial by-products, yet the matter of immediacy in damages in the U.S region, the oil spill marathon which lacked industry investment in planned prevention and resources concern/investment, is now appearing to an elected official as an open question in the resolve of critical blame and government directed discipline.

Once 'in the family' it seems, yet again, that
' Boehner gives it straight to the Americans and to the government,
and,
Pelosi whacks Boehner for America and Californians, '

Can news become historical classicism this quickly, again?

This forum is one big case of "preaching to the choir." I Love It!!

I'd like to comment on Mr. Donahue's assertion that "It is generally not the practice of this country to change the laws after the game,"

In fact, there is precedent - In the 90s, the Repub Congress passed a law changing the bancruptcy laws so that you could no longer go bancrupt on your student loans. This was enforced retroactively - That is, even if you were able to bancrupt on those loans when you took them out, and even if that knowledge was part of the original contract, it was now an unavailable recourse.

Someone sued. Claimed it violated Constitutional prohibition of ex-post-facto laws. Case went to Supreme Court. The conservative majority found that the Constitutional protection against ex post facto laws ONLY extended to criminal statutes and specifically NOT civil financial laws. This decision still stands as law today.

Therefore, our government can bloody well change the laws all it wants. Our government can even prohibit BP from being able to claim bancruptcy if we wish to do so. We could say that the shareholders of a corporate entity are personally liable for damages done by the corporate body. We could make it retroactive to 1950. As long as there are no criminal charges, all bets are off Mr. Donahue!