Boehner on Who Must Pay What for Spill

By BERNIE BECKER
NYT

So where exactly does John Boehner stand on whether the federal government should chip in for the cleanup of and damages caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

For today at least, the answer to that question seemed to get a bit complicated.

At a briefing this morning, Mr. Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, appeared to suggest that the government should help out financially with the cleanup. Asked by a reporter whether the taxpayers should “pitch in” – a thought that has been attributed to Thomas J. Donohue, the president of the United States Chamber of Commerce – the Ohio Republican said: “I think the people responsible for the oil spill — BP and the federal government — should take full responsibility for what’s happening there.”

And then the fun started.

Democrats and liberals quickly jumped on the claim. For example, Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, sent out a statement on Thursday saying “the public deserves to know whether Republicans are going to join Democrats to hold BP accountable, or just continue to protect big oil companies — the same way Republicans have protected big banks and health care companies.”

(More here.)