CONGRESS

GOP Senator Blocks Bill to Make BP Pay

Murkowski opposed raising liability from $75M to $10B.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a longtime advocate of offshore drilling, became the face of opposition to Congressional efforts at holding oil companies accountable for their spills after blocking a bill on Thursday. The Alaskan Senator blocked a voice vote on a bill by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) that would have dramatically raised the cap on liabilities for oil companies from $75 million, likely a small fraction of the damage caused by the BP disaster, to $10 billion. Meanwhile, the White House, who backs the bill, appears to have a strong hand politically. 42 percent of Americans favor President Obama's handling of the gulf spill, versus 33 percent who disapprove and 21 percent who are neutral, a new AP-GfK poll reports.