The stripped down energy and oil spill response bill will not get a vote this week.
“Since Republicans refuse to move forward with any meaningful debate, we will postpone tomorrow’s votes on energy until after the recess,” Reid told reporters in the Capitol today. “In the interim, we will continue to work to get Republican votes for a strong bill that holds BP accountable, creates jobs, lowers costs and protects the environment.”
Republicans stood together to oppose the legislation and some Democrats raised issues with the bill as well, making it impossible to find the 60 votes necessary to overcome a GOP filibuster and move the package forward to an up-or-down vote.
At the center of the opposition is a provision in the bill that would remove the $75 million cap on a company’s economic liability in the event of a spill. Republicans, as well as oil state lawmakers like Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska), argue that small- and medium-sized companies will not be able to drill in the Gulf of Mexico if they are held liable for all of the economic damages related to an oil spill. They say that such a provision would hurt the economy and drive offshore drilling and the jobs that go with it overseas, where regulations are less stringent.
Those are key elements for Dems to hammer on during recess: that the bill "holds BP accountable, creates jobs, lowers costs and protects the environment.” The narrative from Dems on jobs has been utterly lacking since they surged out of the health reform debate promising "jobs, jobs, jobs." This bill is just about the only avenue left for the Senate (the House has passed five jobs bills that haven't even made it to the Senate floor) to do anything significant on the jobs front, and they need to hammer it and to get public opinion behind it.
