Sam Stein:
Democrats in Congress and officials in the White House are making yet another major push to pass legislation to make the liability for oil companies involved in damaging spills unlimited.
On Monday evening, the White House confirmed that it favors the most recent piece of legislation that would drop any numerical ceiling to the amount of money an oil company like BP would have to pay for economic damages caused by a spill. Currently, the cap is $75 million.
"The president supports removing caps on liability for oil companies engaged in offshore drilling," said spokesman Ben LaBolt. "Oil companies should have every incentive to maximize safety and arbitrary caps on liability create a disincentive to achieve that goal."
It shouldn't have taken this long for the administration to get on board, but they are making the right call here -- an unlimited cap is really the only position that makes logical sense. It's much easier to make the case for case for an unlimited cap than a cap that is merely higher.
Obviously, it's possible that political realities might ultimately require a compromise, but there's no reason to compromise until you have a deal in place. And given BP's widespread unpopularity, I wouldn't bet against getting the whole enchilada. Whatever happens, Republicans who oppose this will do so at their own electoral peril.