This was a vote on final passage of legislation imposing new safety regulations on companies engaging in oil drilling repealing the $75 million cap on oil companies’ liabilities relating to oil spills, and requiring oil companies to pay royalties on oil that was discharged from a well (including spilled oil). Democrats brought up this bill in response to the BP oil spill on April 20, 2010 that wreaked environmental havoc on the Gulf Coast region of the United States.

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) urged support for the bill: “This legislation is aimed at shedding light on longstanding inadequacies in the management of our Federal oil and gas resources and to address the lessons learned in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster [the oil drilling rig that exploded, thus causing the oil spill]…. It directly responds to the Deepwater Horizon disaster while also looking forward and attempting to prevent the next catastrophe. It will create strong new safety standards for offshore drilling and the revolving door between government and industry.”

Rep. Henry Waxman also urged members to support the measure: “This legislation puts an end to this culture of complacency….It is too late to stop the explosion and blowout on the Deepwater Horizon. But, with this legislation, we can hold the appropriate parties accountable and make sure that this type of catastrophic blowout never happens again.”

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) argued: “While this bill will cost billions…the real toll is the potential lost jobs because of the actions of this bill. American jobs will be lost, and many will be sent overseas because of this bill. Why is this being done, I wonder, to the people of the gulf coast? The gulf coast has already taken a terrible economic hit. By what measures… do they deserve this Democrat Congress taking action on a bill that will inflict even greater economic pain and suffering?”

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) argued that new regulations would not prevent another disaster, and contended the bill was doomed to be a failure: “The problem is not a lack of bureaucracy. The problem is a tangled mess of rigid regulations, political posturing, contradictory edicts, and administrative incompetence that produced an emergency response worthy of the Keystone Kops. More of the same is not the answer. My advice to this administration and its congressional majority is this: If you can't lead and won't follow, then get out of the way.”

The House passed this bill by a vote of  209-193. 207 Democrats – including a majority of progressives – and 2 Republicans voted “yea.” 154 Republicans and 39 Democrats voted “nay.” As a result, the House passed legislation imposing new safety regulations on companies engaging in oil drilling, repealing the $75 million cap on oil companies’ liabilities relating to oil spills, and requiring oil companies to pay royalties on oil that was discharged from a well.