House approves giving 80 percent of BP oil spill fines to Gulf fund

The House gave voice vote approval Thursday to an amendment that would dedicate 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP oil spill to a new Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund. The vote was a key victory for supporters of using the fine money to finance environmental restoration in the five Gulf states, but only a first step. The amendment still needs Senate approval and enactment of separate legislation, called the RESTORE Act, to designate a formula for distributing the money, which could be in the billions of dollars.