Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) says backers of a bill to send billions of dollars from Deepwater Horizon spill penalties to Gulf Coast states nearly have the support they need to get a Senate vote this week.

The "RESTORE Act" has been introduced as an amendment to the Senate transportation bill by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

"It looks like yes," Landrieu said of the possible vote. "We don't have a specific time but we're still working towards that."

The measure could be either folded into the transportation bill before it hits the Senate floor or offered as a stand-alone amendment, Landrieu said. But the decision on how or whether the amendment will receive a vote depends on not only Senate leadership but also whether the measure has a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

Landrieu said it is "very close" to having 60 votes.

"I don't think we'll have a vote without having the necessary votes to pass it," she said. "So we're working. We're very close."

The bill would divvy up 80 percent of the oil spill fines collected by the federal government among Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

A stripped-down version of the bill passed the House earlier this month, also as an amendment to a larger bill (E&E Daily, Feb. 17).

Nine of 10 Gulf Coast senators are backing the bill. But there is disagreement -- particularly in the House -- over how to offset the $1.2 billion price tag (E&E Daily, Dec. 8, 2011).

Landrieu has proposed extending a per-barrel tax on oil drilling for three years. The stripped-down House version dodged the question by walling off the money in a separate fund that could not be tapped without further congressional action.