You should think about what you're saying here. No other president that I can think of has been able to do something like this. That money (and it's just the start) is able to compensate businesses/families for their loss RIGHT NOW. The other option would be to do nothing and allow everybody to lawyer up, keeping this shit in court for twenty years before BP settled for pennies on the dollar.

I thought Republicans were all about "Country first"? Now they are bellyaching because Obama got BP to pony up 20 BILLION dollars for Americans?

Do we really need another blow to an already fragile economy?

As usual the GOP offer up nothing but sour grapes and no solutions. What have they done to raise money for the effected areas thus far?

Really it's a shame as this SHOULD NOT be a political event. However what I see as a national disaster/ecological tragedy, the GOP view as an opportunity to score political points and take cheap shots. Shame on them.

Well besides the ecological ramifications, which you seem to be acutely unaware of, it will have a devastating effect on the local economies associated with the gulf areas, and again indirectly to the vendors etc that supply those businesses. Push one domino over and many more fall afterwards. It's hardly as simple as some birds getting oil on their feathers (which is bad in it's own right) or dead fish coming ashore.