Video: Joe Biden Explains Why Joe Barton (and Michele Bachmann) Are Full of BS About BP

A reminder; this is what Bachmann said last week about the $20 billion escrow fund for victims of the BP oil spill:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) called the fund "a redistribution of wealth"

That's not true - VP Joe Biden explains:



From the Whitehouse.gov transcript:

There’s an entire way of life in jeopardy. This is just not about jobs. This is just not about whether or not the waterfowl is polluted and you can’t -- this is an entire way of life that’s in jeopardy. And to sit there and say that we’re being -- in effect, as I understood the statement -- that he was ashamed we’re being tough on an oil company who caused the problem -- I mean, I -- look, I just think that it’s pretty important to the people of Louisiana all the way through Florida and even in his home state of Texas that people disassociate themselves from that.

That’s not the role -- there’s no shakedown. It’s insisting on responsible conduct and a responsible response to something they caused. And I find it outrageous to suggest that if, in fact, we insisted that BP demonstrate their preparedness, to put aside billions of dollars -- in this case, $20 billion -- to take care of the immediate needs of people who are drowning -- these guys don’t have deep pockets. The guy who runs the local marina, the guy who has one shrimping boat, the guy who has one small business -- he can’t afford to lose $10,000, $12,000, $15,000, $30,000 a month.

And so the thing the President did -- and I was so proud of him -- is when we had the meeting with BP -- and they were cooperative in the meeting. They were cooperative. He said, look, what I want you to do is take care of those people now who, if they don’t get help now, are going to be under, gone. Gone.

And I might add, this fund is not a ceiling, and people can go back to it as many times as they can prove they have been damaged and they need help. And the cleanup costs are all BP’s costs, separate, apart and above that $20 billion.

What is wrong with that? How is that a shakedown? I mean, I just -- I don’t know, I find it pretty astounding, the comment.

Michele Bachmann doesn't care about people - only big corporations... and herself.