Did Obama's Budget Cuts Cause Gulf Oil Spill?

That's what coming out of a fresh investigation.

These new details raise serious questions for the White House, which has repeatedly pinned the blame on BP. If it turns out the Coast Guard is at fault -- either because it didn't follow proper procedures or couldn't respond adequately because of a lack of resources -- the public has a right to know why we're just now learning this information 100 days after the disaster began.

The crippling budget cuts President Obama proposed for the Coast Guard also deserve a closer examination. Obama's spending plan reduced the blue water fleet by a full one-third, slashed 1,000 personnel, five cutters, and several aircraft, including helicopters. According to the Center for Public Integrity, the Coast Guard updated its official maritime rescue manual -- advising against firefighting aboard a rig -- just seven months before the Deepwater Horizon explosion. That change in policy came at a time when Adm. Thad Allen warned the budget cuts threatened to turn the Coast Guard into a "hollow force."

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/Obama-failed-to-acknowledge-governments-role-in-oil-spill-99552279.html#ixzz0vBGCe4c8