King continues string of gaffes with Jones Act claim

Republican United States Representative Steve King of Iowa's 5th Congressional District continued his streak of controversial remarks regarding the Obama administration with comments about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  King blamed politics for the slow response to the spill, saying the Jones Act prevented foreign ships and technology from aiding in the spill cleanup.

The Iowa Independent and McClatchy News discredited these claims, with McClatchy calling it a "false talking point."  Factcheck.org noted that the Jones Act "has yet to be an issue" in the cleanup, and the charges that the Obama administration has refused to accept foreign help are false in all cases except one.  The State Department says that equipment from Brazil, Mexico, and Norway has been helping the response efforts since May 11.  Meanwhile, the Deepwater Horizon response team highlighted in a 15 June press release that fifteen foreign-flagged vessels were helping the cleanup efforts.  The Jones Act also only applies to vessels operating in state waters, which are within three miles of the shoreline, according to Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen.

Representative King also recently defended controversial remarks by a Texas Republican apologizing to BP for the administration's actions.  U.S. Representative Joe Barton made the remarks in his opening statement at a 17 June 2010 House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing questioning BP CEO Tony Hayward.  “I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown — in this case a $20 billion shakedown,” Barton said.

While Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he "couldn't disagree with Joe Barton more," Representative King called Barton's analysis "spot-on" in a radio interview.  King continued, saying "if you look at all they have nationalized during this administration — some started during the Bush administration — it should tell you, they want to swallow up as many Fortune 500 companies as they can," The Hill reports.

Representative King's comments surrounding the BP oil spill come after a string of ill-received statements, including a mid-June remark claiming that the Obama administration favors African-Americans over Caucasians.  King said on the G. Gordan Liddy radio show: “But the president has demonstrated he’s got a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race on the side of it favors the black person — in the case of Professor Gates and Officer Crowley. That was a case where he knew nothing about it, threw himself into it, and concluded that the cop had operated on a race bias or a racist basis and then he ended up having to have a beer summit because of that.”

While King received some support for this statement, both an eastern Colorado Republican congressional candidate and the Northern Colorado Tea Party canceled Representative King's invitations to their events.  Representative King went to Colorado despite the cancellations, however, to attend two different speaking events at which he was still invited to speak.  This trip created dueling rallies and some confusion as to the circumstances of King's cancellation at the other events.

At the 9-12 Movement rally dubbed "United We Stand Behind Arizona", where Representative King appeared with former U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo, King said President Obama and administration officials have "contributed to misinformation" about the new Arizona immigration law, the Associated Press reports.