Legal Affairs Correspondent Jay Goodman Tamboli will be covering the release of opinions by the Supreme Court.
The Washington Bureau will be covering the following:
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and its implications for national security programs, with testimony by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen.
BP CEO Tony Hayward will be testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee in a hearing on “The Role Of BP In The Deepwater Horizon Explosion And Oil Spill.”
The House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is holding a hearing; “The Deepwater Horizon Incident: Are the Minerals Management Service Regulations Doing The Job?”
With testimony by Bob Abbey, acting director of the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service; Mary Kendall, Interior Department’s acting inspector general, and others.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ) will hold a news conference to announce the “Debt Buy-Down Act of 2010.”
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) will hold on-camera briefing with reporters.

Top executives with BP have agreed to establish a $20 billion account that will be used to award claims made by individuals and businesses that have been affected by the Gulf oil spill. The company will also suspend making dividend payments to shareholders for the rest of the year.
At the behest of the White House, BP Board Chairman Carl Henric-Svanberg, CEO Tony Hayward and others with the company met privately with President Obama and other administration officials in the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday. The meeting, which the President took part in for only 20 minutes, lasted nearly four hours. Vice President Joe Biden, White House Economic Adviser Larry Summers and the administration’s point man on the ground in the Gulf in charge of managing efforts to stop the spill, Adm. Thad Allen, were among those who attended the meeting.
In brief remarks to to the press afterwards, the President confirmed BP’s willingness to oblige his request to set up an escrow account. The company will contribute $5 billion per year to the account over the course of the next four years. However, with questions looming as to whether or not $20 billion will be enough to cover all claims, the President assured that the figure would not represent a cap for BP, adding his belief that the oil giant will make good on its promise to fully pay for all damages caused by the spill.
“I’m absolutely confident BP will be able to meet its obligations to the Gulf Coast and to the American people,” said Obama. “BP is a strong and viable company and it is in all our interests that it remains so.”
“This is about accountability,” he added. “At the end of the day, that’s what every American wants and expects.”
The President said lawyer Ken Feinberg will be asked to oversee the fund. Feinberg previously presided over the fund set up to remunerate families of the 9/11 attack victims. Currently, he oversees a program within the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) that monitors executive compensation, and is frequently referred to as the White House’s ‘pay czar.’ Within the BP fund, a panel of three judges will be assigned to hear appeals to decisions made by Feinberg.
Moments after the President concluded his remarks, Svanberg, the chairman, who until today had not spoken with Obama, addressed reporters who had gathered at a stakeout location outside the briefing room, and apologized for his company’s actions.
“I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the American people,” he said. “Through our actions and commitments, we hope…that we will regain the trust that you have in us.”
Svanberg also reportedly issued a personal apology to the President during their meeting. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters later in the day that he “assumed” Mr. Obama had accepted it.
Following his brief statement, the BP Chairman took a handful of questions, including one regarding what he discussed specifically with the President. Svanberg, a Swede who speaks English as a second language, responded by saying both he and Mr. Obama are frustrated over not being able to help the “small people” in the Gulf by plugging the leak.
“I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don’t care,” he said. “But that is not the case indeed. We care about the small people.”
In addition to agreeing on the escrow fund and postponing dividend payments, BP agreed to not attempt to use a liability cap established under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) to avoid awarding claims. Furthermore, the company agreed to contribute $100 million to a foundation designed to support oil workers that have lost their jobs as a result of the six-month drill moratorium announced by the President in response to the spill.

Republicans are frustrated with President Barack Obama for including a call for energy reform in his Oval Office address Tuesday evening.
“President Obama should not exploit this crisis to impose a job-killing national energy tax on struggling families and small businesses,” Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) said in a statement released shortly after the remarks.
Tea Party darling Marco Rubio, who is running against Florida Governor Charlie Crist for the state’s Senate seat, issued a similar statement expressing unease with the President’s emphasis on energy policy.
“it is … my hope that the President will not take his focus off the Gulf Oil Spill to push a cap-and-trade national energy tax,” Rubio said.
In the hours prior to the speech, a number of those on the right warned the White House to side-step the energy topic.
“With all due respect to the White House, … our waters in the gulf are far more important than the status of the Democrats’ legislative agenda,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday during an appearance on the Senate floor.

White House correspondent Victoria Jones will be covering the White House press briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
The Washington Bureau will be covering the following:
- Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the situation in Afghanistan with Army Gen. David Petraeus.
- Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee hearing on the proposed FY2011 budget estimates for the Defense Department.
- Public Citizen, CODEPINK, Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network, and Friends of the Earth host a rally during President Obama’s meeting with BP officials.
- Reps. Pence, Engel et al on Israel flotilla investigation.
- Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.; and Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del. hold a news conference to discuss to discuss the human rights situation in Iran one year after the elections.
- Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee hearing “The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Ensuring a Financially Responsible Recovery.”

President Barack Obama outlined his administration’s response to the colossal oil spill off the Gulf Coast Tuesday evening and called for a policy that moves the U.S. towards a clean energy alternative to fossil fuels.
In what marked his first Oval Office address since assuming the presidency, Obama said that the focus in the days ahead will rest on mending the ecological impact and ensuring that action is taken to prevent future spills.
In order to help fulfill these objectives, Obama explained that the government will seek a long-term plan that includes both environmental restoration and enhanced regulation.
However, Obama noted that regulations could only go so far, and that the U.S. must ultimately focus on moving away from oil.
“For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered,” Obama said. “The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now.”
The President noted that the transition would be difficult, but argued that the U.S. could not risk inaction on the energy front. Obama touted the Waxman-Markey energy bill passed through the House last year as a step in the right direction.
Although Obama conceded that the disaster could take years to overcome, he promised Gulf Coast residents that BP will be held accountable for the economic damage stemming from the ongoing crisis.
“We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused,” Obama stated. “We will do whatever’s necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy.”
The President is set to meet with BP CEO Tony Hayward on Wendesday. It will mark the 58th day since the start of the spill.

By Justin Duckham & Miles Wolf Tamboli-Talk Radio News Service
Cencom Commander General David Petraeus appeared to pass out during a Senate Armed Services hearing on Afghanistan Tuesday.
Petraeus slumped over suddenly during an exchange with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). He seemed to recover several moments later and was escorted from the room. The Committee called a brief recess.
The General returned shortly after and told Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) that he “just got dehydrated,” joking that the incident was not caused by Senator McCain’s questioning.
Petraeus fainted shortly after Senator McCain asserted that the General was, “one of America’s great heroes.”
Despite Petraeus’s return to the witness table and insistence that he was in good health and completely competent to continue the hearing, Levin “overruled” his claims and stated that the Committee would reschedule Tuesday’s meeting for the following day.
Those in attendance applauded as Petraeus departed.

Correspondent Tala Dowlatshahi will be covering a briefing by the UN’s Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Ambassador on the crisis with South Korea
The Washington Bureau Will Be Covering:
-Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the situation in Afghanistan.
Defense Undersecretary for Policy Michele Flournoy; and Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command will testify.
-House Energy and Commerce Committee Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing on “Drilling Down On America’s Energy Future: Safety, Security And Clean Energy.” Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil; John Watson, chairman and CEO of Chevron Corporation; James Mulva, chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips; Lamar McKay, president and chairman of BP America Inc.; and Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Company will testify.
-House Ways and Means Committee Health Subcommittee and Oversight Subcommittee joint hearing on reducing fraud, waste and abuse in Medicare. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill.; Rep. Ron Klein, D-Fla.; Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.; Rep. Scott Murphy, D-N.Y.; Lewis Morris, chief counsel in the HHS Office of Inspector General; Associate Deputy Attorney General Edward Siskel; Kathleen King, director of health care at the Government Accountability Office; and Kimberly Brandt, director of Medicare program integrity at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will testify.
-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. holds his weekly pen and pad only news briefing.
-House-Senate Conference Committee meeting on H.R.4173, the “Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.”
-Senator Murkowski (R-Ala.) holds a news conference on oil spill legislation.
-Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas holds a news conference to advocate for more offshore drilling.
-Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass.; Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., hold a news conference to announce the Environmental Protection Agency’s economic analysis of the American Power Act.

President Barack Obama acknowledged Monday that the Gulf Coast faces an uphill battle following the oil spill that has devastated the region, but pledged that the Gulf Coast will ultimately recover.
“It’s going to be painful for a lot of folks,” Obama said during an appearance in Theodore, Alabama. “But I promise you … things are going to return to normal.”
Added the President, “This region that’s known a lot of hardship will bounce back, just like it’s bounced back before.”
Obama’s remarks came during his fourth trip to the region since the crisis began. Earlier in the day, Obama met with local politicians and business owners, including Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (R).
On Tuesday, Obama will deliver an adress from the Oval Office on the spill. He is scheduled to meet with BP executives the following day and will, Obama said Monday, hopefully smooth out the claims process.

By Miles Wolf Tamboli
Talk Radio News Service
In her weekly press conference Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) slammed BP for paying dividends to its shareholders when they could have been reimbursing areas of the the Gulf Coast affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill.
“BP made $17 billion in profits last year,” Pelosi said. “They have a responsibility to pay their bills.”
Pelosi told reporters that she hopes the $75 million dollar liability cap outlined in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 will be lifted altogether. When asked what she would like to hear from the oil executives coming to Capital Hill next week, Pelosi said that the American people deserve integrity.
“We want to hear the truth,” she said. “BP misrepresented what their technology could do.”
The Speaker ridiculed BP’s cleanup efforts, asserting that the use of golf balls, hair, and diapers does not exactly reflect that the third largest energy company in the world is utilizing the technology of the future.
Pelosi spoke for many Democratic lawmakers when she called for research to develop safer drilling technology and a new energy policy that would reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

White House correspondent Victoria Jones will cover:
The President delivering a statement to the press on his small business jobs initiatives in the Rose Garden.
The Washington Will Also Be Covering
The Sustainable Defense Task Force holds a briefing on a new report on “Debt, Deficits and Defense – A Way Forward.”
Highlights:
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., will deliver remarks.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. holds her weekly news conference.