BP | Be a Seed for Change

JUSTICE — PRESIDENT OBAMA DIRECTS FEDERAL AGENCIES TO EXTEND BENEFITS TO EMPLOYEES’ SAME-SEX PARTNERS: Last June, President Obama ordered each federal agency to conduct a thorough review of employee benefits to identify any that can be extended to LGBT employees under existing law. Yesterday, the President released a memorandum announcing that the agencies “have identified a number of benefits,” and they should provide them “to their employees’ same-sex domestic partners [and their children] as permitted by law.” The benefits extension includes credit union membership, hardship transfers, counseling services, family assistance services, access to medical treatment, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance. Also as a result of Obama’s June 2009 order, the Office of Personnel Management announced on Tuesday that partners of gay and lesbian federal employees, U.S. Postal Service workers, and federal retirees can start applying next month for long-term health-care insurance. “For far too long, many of our Government’s hard-working, dedicated LGBT employees have been denied equal access to the basic rights and benefits their colleagues enjoy,” Obama said in yesterday’s memo. “This kind of systemic inequality undermines the health, well-being, and security not just of our Federal workforce, but also of their families and communities.” The President also urged Congress to pass the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, which would extend the full range of benefits currently enjoyed by Federal employees’ opposite-sex spouses to those of the same-sex.

BP is the world’s fourth largest corporation, raking in $239 billion last year alone. If BP was its own country, it would be the 33rd biggest economy in the world.¹

But unless Congress acts now, taxpayers will get stuck paying almost all the damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill because of an old law that limits oil industry liability for spills to a paltry $75 million.² Instead of investing in schools, health care, or clean energy, we’ll get stuck bailing out BP.

Twenty-three senators have signed onto legislation to make sure the oil companies pay more—but not Senator Maria Cantwell.³

Can you call Sen. Cantwell right now? Tell her that BP should pay the damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and urge her to co-sponsor the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act. Here’s the number to call:

Senator Maria Cantwell
Phone: 202-224-3441

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSWA_2&cp_id=1372&id=20796-9640874-1rHLmAx&t=2

The BP oil spill is now being called the worst oil spill in U.S. history.⁴ An enormous toxic dead zone is spreading out from the spill, and the sensitive marshlands on the coast are being destroyed. Birds, sea turtles, whales and other marine life are all in harm’s way.

BP is absolutely responsible for the disaster. They cut corners on safety, bought off the regulators, and told Congress and the American people that there was no way a spill like this could happen.⁵

The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act would raise the cap on Big Oil’s liability for oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion.⁶ The truth is, there shouldn’t be any limit on the oil industry’s liability. There’s truly no excuse for senators not to support at least this much.

Call Sen. Cantwell today and urge her to cosponsor the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act. Here’s where to call:

Senator Maria Cantwell
Phone: 202-224-3441

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSWA_2&cp_id=1372&id=20796-9640874-1rHLmAx&t=3

–Steven, Kat, Milan, Amy, and the rest of the team