Republicans hate Robin Hood

President Obama's insistence that BP pay for all damages has resulted in the high positive step of BP to set up an escrow account of $20 billion. Do Republicans see it that way too?

Representative Michele Bachmann on the idea of an escrow just before the deal:

The president just called for creating a fund that would be administered by outsiders, which would be more of a redistribution-of-wealth fund. And now it appears like we'll be looking at one more gateway for more government control, more money to government.

But if I was the head of BP, I would let the signal get out there -- 'We're not going to be chumps, and we're not going to be fleeced.' And they shouldn't be. They shouldn't have to be fleeced and make chumps to have to pay for perpetual unemployment and all the rest -- they've got to be legitimate claims.

Governor Haley Barbour, Mississippi on Fox thinks making BP pay makes them unable to pay:

I do worry that this idea of making them make a huge escrow fund is going to make it less likely that they'll pay for everything. They need their capital to drill wells. They need their capital to produce income so that they can pay that income to our citizens in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and to pay for all the damages done. BP needs to pay, is supposed to pay, must pay every penny. But this escrow bothers me that it's going to make them less able to pay us what they owe us.

Representative Tom Price of the Republican Study Committee apparently sees the escrow as stealing from BP:

BP’s reported willingness to go along with the White House’s new fund suggests that the Obama Administration is hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics.

And Rep. Joe Barton R-TX even apologizes to BP!