Given everything that has happened, I’m amazed that John “Bad-Tan-Limpy” Boehner didn’t evade this question.
Congressional Democrats and the White House are toying with different ways to force BP to cover the costs of damages from the Gulf oil spill. But they face stiff opposition from industry…and it seems leading Republicans. In response to a question from TPMDC, House Minority Leader John Boehner said he believes taxpayers should help pick up the tab for the clean up.
"I think the people responsible in the oil spill–BP and the federal government–should take full responsibility for what’s happening there," Boehner said at his weekly press conference this morning.
Boehner’s statement followed comments last Friday by US Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue who said he opposes efforts to stick BP, a member of the Chamber, with the bill. "It is generally not the practice of this country to change the laws after the game," he said. "Everybody is going to contribute to this clean up. We are all going to have to do it. We are going to have to get the money from the government and from the companies and we will figure out a way to do that."
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… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <TPM>
Limpy has been ranting all year about big government spending. Let’s look at some of his key votes involving corporations and energy.
- Voted NO on $192B additional anti-recession stimulus spending. (Jul 2009)
- Voted NO on modifying bankruptcy rules to avoid mortgage foreclosures. (Mar 2009)
- Voted NO on additional $825 billion for economic recovery package. (Jan 2009)
- Voted NO on monitoring TARP funds to ensure more mortgage relief. (Jan 2009)
- Voted NO on $15B bailout for GM and Chrysler. (Dec 2008)
- Voted NO on $60B stimulus package for jobs, infrastructure, & energy. (Sep 2008)
- Voted NO on defining "energy emergency" on federal gas prices. (Jun 2008)
- Voted NO on regulating the subprime mortgage industry. (Nov 2007)
- Voted YES on restricting bankruptcy rules. (Jan 2004)
- Supports balanced budget amendment & line item veto. (Sep 1994)
- Voted NO on enforcing limits on CO2 global warming pollution. (Jun 2009)
- Voted NO on tax credits for renewable electricity, with PAYGO offsets. (Sep 2008)
- Voted NO on tax incentives for energy production and conservation. (May 2008)
- Voted NO on tax incentives for renewable energy. (Feb 2008)
- Voted NO on investing in homegrown biofuel. (Aug 2007)
- Voted NO on criminalizing oil cartels like OPEC. (May 2007)
- Voted NO on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jan 2007)
- Voted NO on keeping moratorium on drilling for oil offshore. (Jun 2006)
- Voted YES on scheduling permitting for new oil refinieries. (Jun 2006)
- Voted YES on authorizing construction of new oil refineries. (Oct 2005)
- Voted YES on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy. (Jun 2004)
- Voted YES on implementing Bush-Cheney national energy policy. (Nov 2003)
- Voted NO on raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels. (Aug 2001)
- Voted NO on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR. (Aug 2001)
- Voted NO on starting implementation of Kyoto Protocol. (Jun 2000)
- Rated 0% by the CAF, indicating opposition to energy independence. (Dec 2006)
Inserted from <On the Issues>
So Limpy is only against big government spending when it benefits the poor and middle classes. When it takes money from the poor and middle classes for the rich, he’s all for it. That makes him deserving of a terrible insult, so here it comes. Boehner is a Republican.
Every Republican in office is one Republican too many.
9 Responses to “How Boehner Supports Main Street”
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With Boner’s voting record, I’m surprised that he’s still in Congress. The taxpayers are NOT going to foot the bill for BP – they have plenty of assets they can dissolve for causing this mess. If he puts this in a bill, I want to know who votes for it.
PS. The government is already doing their fair share of the cleanup – including National Guard troops, NOAA, and other bodies. They should be reimbursed for their efforts by BP too.
I do wish the good residents of Ohio would render him politically flaccid.
Not only will we, the taxpayer, end up footing part of the bill for the cleanup, we, the taxpayer, will end up paying the MAJORITY of the bill for the cleanup. BP will end up pulling an EXXON — tie everything up in court for 20 years and then pay a fraction of the original settlement cost.
Jerry, if they do, I hope that we have the good sense to permanantly ban BP from doing business in the US market.
Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Everybody needs to sink or swim — fly or fall out of the next — on their own; no coddling from some socialist nanny state. But if you’re a humongous corporation with more money than God, there’s a taxpayer-financed nanny state to bail you out.
OK, I think I get it now.
Congrats, Tom. Learn to believe it and you can be a Repuglican too.
I live in the Chicago area and one of the most infuriating things about BP is that every day they have an entire full page ad in the Chicago Tribune telling how committed they are to cleaning up this mess.
Multiply X amount of dollars per ad by X amount of days by X amount of how many other newspapers throughout the country and we are talking some major bucks here…. and all of it bullshit.
Charles, that’s an excellent point. They could at least try harder to clean the oil then they do to clean their image.