Senator James Inhofe (R-Okl.) is Against Big Government Except When He is For It!

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced legislation on Tuesday afternoon that would fully eliminate any cap on the amount of economic damages that oil companies would have to pay for spills they've caused.


The New Jersey Democrat is revising an earlier version of legislation he introduced which would have raised the cap from $75 million dollars in liability to $10 billion. Now, the cap will be effectively unlimited, an aide said.

The revised legislation, which ups the ante a bit in the oil-spill debate, will get its first floor hearing on Tuesday afternoon as Senate Democratic leadership is expected to call for unanimous consent.

Senator James Inhofe (R-Okl.) blocked a unanimous consent agreement on Menendez's proposal Tuesday afternoon -- citing, among other things, the prohibitive effects it would have on smaller oil companies hoping to drill in the Gulf. Does anyone really believe that a mom and pop company is going to do off-shore drilling when the drilling rigs and other expenses run to a Billion Dollars? If you are going to make excuses, at least be creative and come up with a good one.

Twice already a Republican senator has objected forcing Democrats into another course of action. It should be noted, as well, that the Obama White House has refused so far to endorse an actual dollar figure for where they'd like a liability cap to be, though they have expressed support for raising it.

If BP (or whatever oil company causes a spill) doesn't cover the costs, guess who gets stuck with it. Yes, YOU AND ME. The GOVERNMENT.

So by pulling for business, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okl.) and his like, have decided to push a big government clean-up on us.  Against Big Government Except When He is For It! 

GOPers like Inhofe want corporations to enjoy unlimited profit with limited risk. For all the bellyaching by teabaggers about the financial bailouts, why are they silent about this sort of bailout?