The House Natural Resources Committee dealt President Obama’s oil spill commission a high-profile rebuke today when it unanimously passed a Republican amendment to create a second commission with representatives chosen by both Democrats and Republicans.
The language, authored by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), is similar to a proposal offered by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and passed (with the support of five Democrats) by the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee last month, The Hill reports. Republicans, and some Democrats, have criticized the the White House-appointed commission for being too weighted toward maintaining a moratorium on deepwater drilling, focusing their criticism on commission member Frances Beinecke, who is president of the Natural Resources Defense Council and has publicly supported the moratorium.
The commission conducted its first meeting in New Orleans this week.