Obama's BP Slush Fund

As we hit the one year anniversary of 11 men losing their lives in the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, I heard mention of this. It warrants some attention.

You will remember that Obama demanded that BP establish a $20 Billion fund to assist in the recovery from the disaster. BP had to give the money to the government, where it was to be controlled and dolled out by Obama's hand picked representative. No Congressional oversight, no input from BP itself, no accounting for the money. Obama and his minion had complete control of the money and how it was used.

I guess most of us would have thought that was a small amount of money, not nearly enough to cover the damages from the oil spill. Surely, much, much more would be needed as the Gulf States tried to recover.

As of yesterday, $3.8 Billion of that $20 Billion had been distributed by the government. Yes, less than 20 percent of that money has been distributed by the government.

Not exactly a headline in the mainstream media, is it?

So, what happens to the other 80% of the money that Obama demanded BP give up? Do you think he'll give it back to BP? Not a chance in hell. Will he distribute it completely to residents of the Gulf? No - he has had the chance to do that over the past year, and we see how much he has actually passed out so far.

What he has is a $16.2 Billion slush fund. Money he can do whatever he wants with, without anyone having any say or control over it. Just like the remaining hundreds of billions of dollars in the TARP fund, he's got a huge pile of money to dump on his pet projects and buy votes with.

Now, he won't be so blatant as to give it to his reelection campaign or other outright theft. He will funnel it to 'green' projects, or other social activist projects that line the pockets of his biggest supporters. He will buy votes with the money, plain and simple.

This money, along with the unspent TARP money, should go into the general fund to pay down debt - and not used for any other spending or purpose. We saw how much of an issue Congress and Obama had in cutting a tiny $38 Billion (or $352 million, depending upon who gives the figures) from the budget recently. Surely, cutting a couple of hundred billion out of our debt would be a good thing, right?

Not in Obamaland ...

Update 4/21 - Government officials and BP announced today that Obama and 5 Gulf States have agreed to take another billion dollars from BP to establish a fund to start restoration efforts in those states.

"This milestone agreement will allow us to jump-start restoration," states Ken Salazar, Obama's Interior Secretary.

$100 million will go to each state. $100 million will go to Salazar's Department of the Interior. NOAA will get $100 million. The Federal Government will get $300 million, for 'other projects'.

OK ... I ask again, what happened to the $16.2 billion from the original BP shakedown that hasn't been spent? Isn't restoration and recovery what that money was supposed to be for? Why is Obama sitting on it, and why is he demanding even more from BP?