Steven Holt: “There is a more than $1.5 billion today in the trust fund, but the Coast Guard and the other government agencies cannot…”

“There is a more than $1.5 billion today in the trust fund, but the Coast Guard and the other government agencies cannot access that because of existing limits on the per incident expenses and because of the cap on using this for natural resources and economic damages. The trust fund exists so that we can get on with the work at hand, and I'm pleased that the chairman and the ranking member are moving promptly to give the administration the tools that they need to deal with this. There is work to be done, and it must be done quickly. This will take care of immediate expenditures. We have also dealt with, here in the House, increasing the total capacity of the trust fund, and we must rapidly build up those collections from the oil companies in that trust fund. And then, of course, we must recover from BP and the other responsible parties the money that is used from the trust fund. So spending this money now, and I hope the chairman has been clear for our colleagues, spending that money now does not absolve BP of any responsibility. It just allows the work to get on, and the funds will be collected from BP.”