ICYMI: Dems Raiding Oil Cleanup Trust Fund During Gulf Crisis

Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Senator Lisa Murkowski and others held a press availability after the weekly Republican Policy Lunch. In the presser, McConnell, Kyl and Murkowski pointed out that Democrats are using a bait and switch scheme in the tax extenders bill – a so-called jobs bill according to Democrats – to raid the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

McConnell: “So in effect they're raiding the oil cleanup trust fund in order to try to reduce -- in order to try to pay for the extender package which is on the floor this week.  I think the American people think the oil cleanup trust fund ought to be used to clean up oil spills.”

Kyl: “But instead of using it for that purpose, the money then will be used to offset expenses of the so-called extender bill that's on the floor today. That's wrong and all of you, I hope, will help to make it clear that that's exactly what's happening here, so the American people can understand the duplicity of this approach.”

Murkowski: “Well, it seems the strategy this week is following the advice and statement of Rahm Emanuel, when he said, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ And look at what is being proposed, for instance, with the oil spill liability fund. That's a fund that we all recognize needs to be plussed up. It stands at $1.6 billion now. I've introduced a bipartisan bill that would increase it so that we actually put money into the fund, so that it can be used in emergencies, just as we are seeing down in the Gulf. But the proposal to increase this oil spill liability fund, going from 8 cents a barrel to 41 cents, and then to use that differential there -- to use the proceeds from that fund to help pay for -- for the extenders, to help pay for anything that we are doing here, outside of what the responsibility, outside of what the purpose of that fund is for, is just wrong.”

Wow, so basically during the worst oil disaster in history the Democrats want to raise taxes on oil under the guise of creating more revenue for the cleanup trust fund, but will in reality take that money to pay for a $140 billion bill that adds $77 billion to the deficit? Talk about a bankrupt idea.