De Republikeinen lieten na de toespraak van Obama meteen van zich horen en hadden felle kritiek op de toespraak en vonden dat de president in zijn toespraak de olieramp gebruikte voor politieke doeleinden. De voorzitter van de Republikeinse partij, Michael Steele, gaf na de toespraak van Obama een verklaring uit. “Manipulating this tragic, national crisis for selfish political gain not only demonstrates President Obama’s inability to aptly lead our nation out of a disaster, but also reveals the appallingly arrogant political calculus of this White House. Exploiting the tragedy in the Gulf to try to ram through a devastating job-killing national energy tax is more of the same Chicago-style politics that has the President’s approval ratings plummeting to an all-time low. President Obama should focus on providing the people of the Gulf with real and honest solutions to this horrible environmental disaster that this Administration has been slow in waking up to”, aldus de RNC.

De fractievoorzitter van de Republikeinen in het Huis van Afgevaardigden, Joe Boehner, zei: “President Obama should not exploit this crisis to impose a job-killing national energy tax on struggling families and small businesses. Both parties should be working together to craft responsible solutions in response to this disaster. There’s nothing responsible or reasonable about a national energy tax that will raise energy costs and destroy more American jobs”, aldus Boehner.

De fractievoorzitter van de Republikeinen in de Senaat, Mitch McConnell, gaf de volgende verklaring uit na de toespraak van Obama. “Every day seems to bring more bad news about the size and scope of this crisis, and reversing that trend should be the President’s priority. Legislation to respond to this oil spill should be an opportunity for genuine bipartisan cooperation, the kind that the President so frequently says he wants and the kind that has been sorely needed and sorely lacking in this midst of this tragedy. The White House may view this oil spill as an opportunity to push its agenda in Washington, but Americans are more concerned about what it plans to do to solve the crisis at hand.  Like most Americans, Republicans support an energy policy that seeks to produce more American energy and use less”, aldus McConnell.

De Republikeinen zullen Obama blijven beschuldigen dat hij te weinig doet om de ramp te bestrijden en dat hij zich te afwachtend en te afstandelijk heeft opgesteld.