Washington - U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the author of the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act who has led the charge to ensure oil companies that spill are fully accountable for all economic damage, today applauded a White House statement signaling its support for his legislative effort. In a report posted on Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/white-house-endorses-unli_n_603592.html), White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said: "The president supports removing caps on liability for oil companies engaged in offshore drilling. Oil companies should have every incentive to maximize safety and arbitrary caps on liability create a disincentive to achieve that goal."

Menendez released the following statement:

"Under current law, corporations that submerge entire communities in oil are shielded from full accountability. Devastated small businesses, local families and taxpayers are left holding the bill, while corporations can protect their profits. Our focus should be on protecting families and taxpayers, not wealthy oil companies, and the White House has shown that it fully agrees. Taxpayers and coastal communities need our Republican colleagues to join us in ensuring that oil companies are held fully accountable for economic damage caused by their spills. The Republican proposals to this point have been all for show - they either retain protections for much of the oil industry or have loopholes big enough to navigate an oil tanker through. There should never be an instance in which an oil company is shielded from accountability for economic damage it causes, and the only way to ensure full accountability is to remove the liability limit, period."

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