Oil Spill Visits Get Partisan

http://www.politico.com/ ^ | June 30, 2010 | Jake Sherman

[Biggirl]

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) wanted to fly 10 lawmakers down to the Gulf of Mexico to see the damage caused by BP’s gigantic oil spill first hand.

House Democrats said no.

Scalise’s trip was rejected for a variety of bureaucratic and logistical reasons, but it has also opened a new vein of partisan squabbling over who should be allowed to arrange a trip to view the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

[Biggirl]

Now this horrible disaster is getting political? PLEASE!

[DallasDeb]

I’ve read elsewhere that there has been a shutdown of the media along the coast. Maybe the administration is trying to hide something.

[Lurker]

So what’s stopping the good Congresscritter from paying his own way? Last time I checked United and American and Southwest were still in operation.

[Siena Dreaming]

So what’s stopping the good Congresscritter from paying his own way?

He and others should be allowed to use their official office money for this.

It's not just one guy's trip at issue here. There are lots of issues like oil drilling votes, for example, that are involved.

[jerri]

It's been political the whole time. It started with Zero not accepting help from countries that are capable of dealing with this. He wants to pass Crap and Tax first.

Just like he is doing nothing with border security until immigration reform passes. Every decision he makes is political.

[Diogenesis]

There are a LOT of issues involved here.

FReeper SURPRISE Quiz [time limit 30 seconds total]

===> Which is LEAST likely (pick one):
=======================

1.
Researchers Have Now Found Evidence Of Oil Contamination In Gulf's Food Chain
2. Pres_ _ent Obama was the biggest recipient of BP cash
and British Petroleum (BP) pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign
3. Pres_ _ent Obama's White House chief is tied to a BP adviser
4. Pres_ _ent Obama's White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is connected to BP
5. Pres_ _ent Obama shrewdly made money in the dispersements.
6. The dispersants contain PCB made by NALCO is based in Chicago with subsidiaries in Brazil, Russia, India, China and Indonesia.
7. BP's Fallen Deepwater Horizon was tapping second largest oil deposit in the world
8. Pres_ _ent Obama exempted BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling from environmental impact study
9. Pres_ _ent Obama did this despite BP's long record of legal, ethical violations
10. Pres_ _ent Obama's Federal Regulator Repeatedly Failed to Inspect Deepwater Horizon
11. Pres_ _ent Obama exempted BP's Gulf drilling from environmental impact study
12. Pres_ _ent Obama sheltered BP's Deepwater Horizon rig from regulatory requirement
13. Pres_ _ent Obama continued this despite that "Red Flags Were Ignored Aboard Doomed Rig
14. Pres_ _ent Obama allowed drilling 'without required permits' (also Drilling Without Needed Permits)
15. Pres_ _ent Obama will willingly release his birth certificate, like every other American citizen.

[Lurker]

He and others should be allowed to use their official office money for this.

If the situation is as dire as it's being made out to be, and I'm sure it is, the issue of who's going to pay for it should be secondary to actually getting down there.

Plus it would be a good way to stick a thumb in Pelosi's eye.

[R. Scott]

I think we’ve had enough political dog and pony shows on the Gulf. If anyone wants to see what’s happening just turn on the news.

[240B]

“Every Member should see the result of eight years of failed Bush-Cheney energy policies that have done nothing to secure our energy future,” said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill.”

Never ever did I think I would agree with Pelosi on anything. She should not have said 8 years, she should have said 80 years.

I understand the intent. America used to be brimming with money. So, the Libs thought we can support the poor underdeveloped Arabs. We can support the third world and Mexican illegals. We can support everyone in the world! This is how they thought.

We will shut down American domestic oil production. We will send all of our technology and manufacturing to Asia/China. And we will open our boarder to anyone who wants to come in.

However, now, the Arabs have become a formidable enemy. Mexicans are invading en mass in the south, and China owns our economy.

There are no jobs because China and Illegals have them all. There is no money, because China and the Arabs have it all.

The Liberals, including Bush, and all the others, have given our country away to the world, with the best of intentions I'm sure. But the crime is, they wont give it up. The world is not as pie-in-the=sky like we have been. If they have a chance to destroy us, they will. We clearly see that NOW, in this day and age, it is killing us. And yet, our politicians continue to support Liberal policies from decades ago, and are ridiculed by the world.

We are not in the 60's anymore. This is now. These problems should have been fixed decades ago.

This is not a joke, or some kind of 'philosophical' experiment. And yet the people in office, still living in the sixties, continue to treat everything as just that.

[abortionisalwaysmurder]

look, if the republicans want republicans to see what is going on down there, they have to send men and women like graham, collins, and snowe, senators who will be so busy lewinsking obama that they won’t take time to look out the windows of the helicopter or over the side of the boat.

[Siena Dreaming]

Like I said, it's not just an issue of one guy's ticket.

It's likely whole delegation who will be going down multiple times.

There's larger issues at play here than just an isolated visit here and there. And the fact that Congress is denying Repubs from having official access (involving official travel protection, congressional travel privileges for expedition, etc.) is extremely troubling.

[Lurker]

It's likely whole delegation who will be going down multiple times.

Cry me a fricking river. These guys can have some Corporate bigwigs fire up the G-3's and have them there in 3 hours. Get some of those K Street dirtbags to pony up for something useful.

Then use it as political fodder to shred Pelosi and her tactics.

[Siena Dreaming]

You don't get it.

This is not about crying fricking rivers. It's about Pelosi using fascism to block taxpayers (through their congresspeople) from getting legitimate access to the garbage and corruption that Obama is letting loose in LA.

Our reps should be allowed through official channels to get through to LA and dictator-tactics are being used to stop it from happening.

[Lurker]

Our reps should be allowed through official channels to get through to LA and dictator-tactics are being used to stop it from happening.

So go around them, go over them, or go under them but for the love of God stop WHINING about it.

[databoss]

G-3’s? So 1980’s...

[Siena Dreaming]

Oh, another person who thinks our reps should just keep bow down before Queen Pelosi and not say a peep when she uses her Nazi tactics.

How wonderful.

[SunkenCiv]

It has?!? Must be the fault of Republicans, conservatives, and Big Oil. Oh yeah, and Israel’s continued crimes against the Palestinian people and occupation of Arab lands probably had something to do with it too.

Thanks Biggirl.