House Gives Subpoena Power To Obama's Oil-Spill Commission

23rd Jun 2010 22:18

By Tennille Tracy and Siobhan Hughes Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. House of Representatives voted to give subpoena powers to President Barack Obama's newly formed oil-spill commission. Armed with this power, the president's National Commission On The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill & Offshore Drilling will be able to force witnesses to deliver testimony on the spill and gather records, correspondence and other relevant documents. The president formed the seven-person commission earlier this year and tasked them with finding ways to prevent future oil spills. The House voted overwhelmingly to grant this power to the president's commission, with 420 lawmakers approving to grant the authority. Only one lawmaker, Texas Republican Ron Paul, voted against the measure. A spokeswoman for Paul declined to elaborate on the congressman's vote. Paul's son, Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul, has already come under fire for supporting BP PLC (BP, BP.LN). In an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" last month, the younger Paul, a libertarian, said Obama was "un-American" for criticizing the oil company. He said attacks on BP were part of the "blame game," where tragedy is "always someone else's fault." A handful of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate introduced a similar measure earlier this year, granting the same powers to the commission, but the Senate hasn't yet voted on that measure. -By Tennille Tracy, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6619; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 23, 2010 17:18 ET (21:18 GMT)