While you're busy pouring over the 193-page ruling by the Roberts Court on the Affordable Care Act, Florida Democrats like Bill Nelson are hailing another D.C. decision — this one involving the deal crafted Wednesday that will make the bipartisan RESTORE Act part of a transportation bill lawmakers are expected to approve later this week.
Under the RESTORE Act (for Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourism Opportunities and Revived Economies), the five Gulf Coast states (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas) will get 80 percent of the money that BP is expected to pay for the Gulf oil spill under the Clean Water Act. Lawmakers estimate those fines could total $5 billion to $20 billion.
Without the legislation, the fine money would go to the U.S. Treasury and to a trust fund for future oil spills nationwide.
