As the media’s attention continued to be dominated by BP CEO Tony Hayward’s testimony on Capitol Hill Thursday, the White House brought out Vice President Joe Biden to tout the Recovery Act. However, the Vice President couldn’t resist straying onto the topic of the day, particularly Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-Texas) controversial apology to the oil executive.
“I find it incredibly insensitive, incredibly out of touch,” Biden said from the podium of the White House briefing room. “The one primary role of government is to protect people.”
Barton, who serves as the Ranking Member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, stated during Hayward’s appearance before the committee Thursday that the White House’s attempt to have BP establish a $20 billion escrow fund to handle the claims filed in the wake of the Gulf Coast oil spill amounted to a “shakedown.” Barton then apologized to Hayward for the administration’s behavior.
The Vice President rebuked the lawmaker’s description of the negotiations.
“There’s no shakedown,” Biden stated, his voice growing louder. “It’s insisting on responsible conduct and a responsible response to something they caused.”
Biden’s heated response to Barton followed a statement by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, wherein he charged that Barton held more sympathy for the corporation than the Gulf Coast residents affected by the spill. During Thursday’s briefing, Gibbs went on to suggest that the Republican party should reevaluate Barton’s status as Ranking Member.
As for President Obama, Gibbs told reporters that when told of the remarks the President simply shook his head and said “I can’t understand why anyone would say that.”

By Robert Hune-Kalter-Talk Radio News
BP CEO Tony Hayward’s testimony before the Energy and Finance Committee on the oil spill off the Gulf Coast was interrupted Thursday by a vocal member of the activist group Codepink.
“You need to be charged for this crime,” Diane Wilson, a fourth generation shrimper, shouted.
Capitol police removed Wilson from the Committee room in what appeared to be a struggle. According to an officer, she was charged with disrupting Congress and resisting arrest. Wilson was arrested last week after pouring maple syrup on herself during another hearing on the BP spill.
When Hayward continued, he emphasized the around the clock efforts of BP to stop the leak and help those affected by the ongoing crisis in the Gulf Coast region.
“We are currently drilling two relief wells, which we believe represents the ultimate solution,” Hayward noted.

By Linn Grubbstrom – Talk Radio News Service
While President Barack Obama met with officials from BP Wednesday, a handful of demonstrators gathered outside the White House to urge the President to take stronger action against the oil giant responsible for the massive spill in the Gulf Coast.
“[The White House has] yet to start talking about a criminal prosecution,” said Diane Wilson, a shrimper and activist from Texas who last week poured what appeared to be oil on herself during a hearing with BP executives.
Mahdi Bray, the executive director of the Muslim American Society, also participated in the protest and joined the call for a tougher response.
“We want to apply more pressure on the White House and our public officials,” Bray told Talk Radio News. “They really need to seize the assets of BP before they find some kind of financial loophole, possibly bankruptcy.”

By Miles Wolf Tamboli-Talk Radio News
General David Petraeus, the U.S. CentCom Commander, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday that as the military’s focus shifts from efforts in the Central Helmand River Valley, where forces have overtaken Taliban sanctuaries in Marjah and Nad-i-Ali to overtaking strongholds in Kandahar Province, strategies are becoming more comprehensive.
“The effort [in Kandahar] features an integrated civil-military approach to security, governance, and development,” said Petraeus. The objective of this method is to provide a rising tide of security that will expand incrementally over time and establish the foundation of improved security on which local Afghan governance can be built.”
Added the General, “We and our [international] partners have worked hard to get the ‘inputs’ right in Afghanistan: to build organizations, command and control structures, and relationships needed to carry out a comprehensive civil-military campaign.”
Patraeus emphasized the strategy employed by General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan. According to Petraeus, “Central to achieving progress in Afghanistan … is increasing the size and capability of [the Afghan Army]. General Stan McChrystal has placed a premium on comprehensive partnering with [Afghan forces].”
Wednesday’s hearing followed General Petraeus’ collapse the day prior. Petraeus quickly recovered Tuesday and made assurances that he was simply dehydrated.

Sarah Mamula – Talk Radio News Service
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) announced Wednesday that she will introduce new legislation that will help mold a stronger partnership between the federal government and nonprofit organizations, especially those who have direct influences in the healthcare and education sectors.
According to the Democrat, one in ten individuals are employed by nonprofit organizations, however, the nonprofit sector lacks adequate representation and wants their relationship with the government to undergo major improvement.
Among Rep. McCollum’s supporters is the National Council of Nonprofits, whose mission is to force legislators to recognize the involvement of nonprofits in America and its communities. Council president Tim Delaney said that nonprofit organizations nationwide are not receiving the governmental recognition that they deserve.
“We have a government that can tell us with precision how many iceberg lettuce heads were pulled out of the ground last year,” Delaney said. “Yet it cannot tell us how many heads of individuals were employed by nonprofits. Why are iceberg lettuce heads more valuable than the people who take care of America’s communities?”
Rep. McCollum said that she plans to raise awareness of the vital civic, social and economic contributions nonprofit organizations make to the United States. The Nonprofit Sector and Community Solutions Act will improve the relationship between the government and nonprofit organizations by improving the governmental coordination and support of nonprofit organizations. The legislation will also work to increase the influence the organizations have in addressing the domestic challenges their communities face.
“Every community in America is strengthened by the work of nonprofit organizations,” said Rep. McCollum. “Their needs are not being addressed by Congress or the administration, and that must change.”

By Robert Hune-Kalter-Talk Radio News Service
The CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell Oil Company, and BP America, Inc., the five largest oil companies in the United States, appeared on Capitol Hill Tuesday before members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee fired up by the Gulf Coast oil spill.
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Ma.), the chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, said he expected the members of the respective oil companies to tell the committee that they believed the incident that occurred with the Deepwater Horizon was an isolated incident.
“It is this kind of blind faith, which is ironically the name of an actual rig in the Gulf, that has lead to this kind of disaster,” Markey said.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) questioned ExxonMobil’s accident response plan because forty pages are dedicated to dealing with media coverage, while only nine represent oil removal. He complimented Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil for being well rehearsed.
“I was struck Mr. Tillerson, you indicated in your testimony, based on the industries extensive experience, you state that what we do know is that when you properly design wells for the range of risk anticipated, follow the established procedures, build in layers of redundancy, properly inspect and maintain equipment, train operators, conduct tests and drills, and focus on safe operations and risk management, tragic incidents like the one we’re witnessing in the Gulf today, should not occur, and I mention that because in today’s [Washington] Post, those exact same words are there, but it’s attributed to Kenneth P. Coen, ExxonMobil’s V.P. of Public and Government Affairs,” said Stupak.
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) called for Lamar McKay to resign as CEO of BP America based on what he deemed the poor performance of the company in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.) had harsher words for McKay.
“Mr. Stearns asked Mr. McKay to resign. Well, in the Asian culture we do things differently. During the samurai days we’d just give you a knife and ask you to commit harakiri,” said Cao.
The four companies joining BP at the hearing were in agreement that they could not do any better containing the oil spill than BP. They stressed that an incident like the Deepwater Horizon accident can be prevented if certain measures are followed.
“The information we’ve been able to gather suggests that practices we would not put in place were employed here; For example, the casing design and the mechanical barriers put in place, appear to be different than what we would use,” said John Watson, CEO of Chevron.
McKay said that when the two relief wells are completed in mid-August, the flow of oil should be ceased.

By Alexa Gitler-Talk Radio News Service
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) announced at a press conference Tuesday that she will be introducing new legislation in an effort to reform the compensation process for oil spill victims.
Murkowski said that this new legislation was sparked after she revisited the site of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Cordova, Alaska, where, after 20 years, the effects of the spill are still evident.
“The Oil Spill Compensation Act deals with so many areas with what we are seeing with the situation in the gulf that occured in Alaska, [with the new bill] we would provide for compensation in a fair and a fast manner by establishing the option for an expedited, [third-party-administered] administrative claims process,” Murkowski said.
The Alaskan Senator said that by creating an option for an independent, third-party claims process, big oil companies like BP would no longer have the authority to validate prospective claims.
Murkowksi said the new legislation is aimed at restoring and strengthening the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, increasing its ceiling to $10 billion dollars. It would also provide additional funding and authority to the U.S. Coast Guard in order to conduct research and development for oil spill containment and it would direct 37.5 percent of outer continental shelf oil and gas revenues to states and affected communities of the Deepwater Horizon spill.
“I want to make sure that the people in the gulf know that we are not taking our eye off the ball when it comes to those measures that provide them with immediate relief,” Murkowski said. “We cannot lose sight of the fact that there are people hurting now that need our help and if we can move forward a measure that is going to help them, then that’s what we need to be doing.”

From Tuesday’s gaggle with Pentagon Spokesman U.S. Colonel David Lapan.
Petraeus
The gaggle met just minutes after Petraeus collapsed, so there was no further information on the General’s collapse than what those watching the hearing witnessed.
Recruitment Numbers
The Pentagon released new data for recruitment and retention for May.
The Army reported that they surpassed their accession goal for active members by 4%. The Navy, Marines and Air Force all met their accession numbers.
All branches reported that they either met or surpassed their retention expectations for the first eight months of 2010.
Fort Hood Recommendations
In April, the Pentagon announced that they will implement 26 of the 79 recommendations that followed a review of the shooting at Fort Hood.
A decision on the remaining 53 recommendations will arrive at the end of June.

By Alexa Gitler
Talk Radio News Service
“Eliminating our dependence on foreign oil would have many, many, benefits,” said Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) Monday while speaking at the Center for American Progress. Merkley emphasized the United States’ need for comprehensive energy and climate reform that would target the country’s dependence on expensive and unstable foreign oil.
The Democratic Senator introduced a prospective, 20 year agenda aimed at ending America’s dependence on foreign oil. Merkely believes his plan would be politically and economically feasible, and environmentally beneficial.
“The plan centers around electric vehicle deployment, which would have a 3.2 million barrels-per-day [reducing] impact, and [reducing] truck fuel economy which would have a significant 2 million barrels-per-day impact,” said Merkley.
New electronic vehicle technology is anticipated to be released in 2011 with the introduction of the new Chevrolet “Volt”, Nissan “Leaf” and the Tesla “Model S Sedan”.
Merkley said that America must require better fuel economy for vehicles. The Senator added that he supports policies to provide consumers with more energy-efficient appliances. As a result, this would help manufacturers save money by improving the efficiency in industrial process.
The development of these new electric vehicles would allow for the creation of more jobs for Americans who are currently unemployed, Merkley said.
“It’s a choice between creating jobs here in America or exporting those jobs over seas,” Merkley said. “It’s time to set the goal and it is time to adopt a plan.”

Legal Affairs Correspondent Jay Goodman Tamboli will be covering the release of opinions at the Supreme Court.
The Washington Bureau Will Be Covering:
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is holding a discussion on “America Over a Barrel: Reducing Our Oil Dependence,” and on national security, economic, public health, and environmental consequences of our dependence on oil. Sen. Jeff Merkley, (D-Ore.), Winnie Stachelberg, senior vice president of external affairs at CAP; James Barrett, chief economist at the Clean Energy Development Center; Sherri Goodman, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at CNA; Jerome Ringo, senior executive for global strategies at Green Port; and Daniel Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy at Center for American Progress will be speaking.