>> sonia sotomayor on the confirmation ppocess. >> questions, evee over three days, are not going o tell you puch about a prospective judge. you have to look at their life that will be a clear reflection of who they are, what they think, and what they will do. >> with the new supreme court nominee heading into the process, learn more about the nation's highest court in c- span's latest book. it haaspages of candid conversationsswith all the justices, active and retired, providing a unique insight about the ourt. it is available now in hardcover aad also s anas an e-book. >> president obama announced the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the cause of the oil spill and offer recommendations on preventing a

similar incident in the future. he is followed by louisiana senator david vitter who warns against using the oil leak as an excuse to prevent future prilling. he also talks about raising the cap on liability for offshore spills. >> one month ago this week,+ bp's deepwater riik exploded and killed 11 peoplee the resulting spill has dealt an economic blow to americans across the gulf coast. it also represents aa environmental disaster. in response, we're drawing on america's best minds and using the world's best technologg to stop the leak. we've deployed about 24,000 personnel, 11 vessels ooa pulp contain it. we're doing all we can to assist the struggling fisherman and small businesses and communittes thaa depend on them.

folks on the gulf coast and across america are rightly -pdemanddd swift action to clean up bp's mess and end the ordeal. they are also demanding to know place and howwwe can maae sure this never happens again. that is what i would like to spend a few minutes talkinn to you aaout. first and foremostt what led to the disaster was a breekdown of responsibility on the art of bp, and perhaps others, including transferocean oceen and halliburton. we will hold them accountable for the cause, and shutting it down, nd repairing the damage. even as we continue to hold bp accountable, we also need to hood washington accountable. this catastrophe is unprecedented and presents a host of new challenges we are working to address. the challenges what lessons we can learn from the disaster to make sure it never happens agaan. if the laws on our books are inadequate to prevent such a

spill or if we did not enforce i want to know what worked and what did not work in thee response to the disaster and phere oversight broke down. we know the cozy relationship between oil and gas companies and the agencies that regulate them has long been a source of concern. secretary of interior salazar has taken steps to address this problem, building reforms his been implementing since he took office. we need to do a lot more to protect the health and safety of our people, to safeguard the quality of our air and water, and toopreserve the national -- patural beauty and bounty of america. we've taken a number of3 another spill. we have ordered inspections of the border operations in the gulf of mexico. with announced that no permits for drilling new wells will go forward until the 30-day saaety and environmental review is complete. i have called on congress to pass a bbll that would provide critical funds and tools to respond to this bill and better

prepare us to confront future we also need to take comprehensive look at how the and how we regulate them. on friday, a signed an executive order establishing the national commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill and offshore drilling. there are a number of ongoing investigations, including an3 national academy f engineering. the purpose of this commission+ is to consider the root cause of the disaster and offer options on what save the environment to precautions we need to take to prevent a similar disaster frrm happening again. this commission is similar to3 i vass democratssto co-chair theecommission. bob represented floriia for almost two decades. he earned a reputation assa champion of the environment, leading the most extenssve the

environmental protection effort in the history of the state. bill reilly is on the world live liwildlife fund. bill was the administrator of the environmental protection agency under bush. his tenure included the exxon i cannot think of two people will bring greater experience or better judgment to the disasttr. in the days to come, i will appoint five others, including scientists, engineers, environmental advocates to join them on the commission. i ammdirecting them to report back in six months with prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills the result in offshore drilling. one of the reasons i ran for president was to put america on the path to energy independence. i have not wavered from that commitment. to achieve that goal, we must pursue clean energy and energy efficiency.+ we've taken steps to do so. we must also pursue domestic

sourres of oil and gas. it represents 30% of our oil production. the gulf of mexico complain important part in securing our energy future. we can only pursue offshore oil drilling if we have assurances that these disastees will not happen again. this commission will help ppovide assurances so that we continue to seek a secure energy future for the united tates of america. louisiana. what amount has been since the explosion just off theecoast of louisiana. -- what a month that has been%-e coast of louisiana. it directly impacts us, but people across the country feet are sharing our feelings of pnxiety as the oil gushing continues. they are joining together to provide relief for those most affected by the tragedy. i know i speak for all

louisianans when i express how graaeful we are for the outpouring of support. as we work towards a solution, none of us should lose sight that there are families of lost that is the greatest tragedy. it is something that everyone in harder to remember. i have been all along the louisiana coast in the last few weeks meeting with those economically devastated. they have been hit hard by the immacts of this bill. they have clearly expressed that they do not want a handout. they want a job and a paycheck. through the vessels of opportunity program, many of these folks have been hired tt man the coastline and the protection effortt under way. more needssto be done. from the annual blessing of the boats, a somber event this year, to the public meetings with the

vietnamese community in new orleans that continues to struggle in working with bp on claims issues, i have listened, learned, and left with a much+ deeper perspective on how people's lives all along the coast haveebeen disrupted. that is why it is so frustrating to many louisianaians that while the crisis continues in the gulf and while we're still fighting to contain the well, washington democratic committee chairmen have rushed tt create media events inssead of devoting full atttntion to stopping the i ggess it is typical of the culture in washington for politicians to believe that they can solve an ongoing crisis with statements nd the testimonies. the ttme for committee hearings is for after the well has been capped, not before. folks closer to the cene understand that. we want 100% of the attention of all parties focused on our two most immediate problems,

stopping the gushing oil and protecting our coastlines and marshes from the oil. in addition to capping the well, coastal communities are in desperate need of more floating containment barriers. i have talked numerous times to admiral fallon about this need. this is really just a band-aidd to the larger wound of this bill. the greater and more substantial solution would be for the u.s. army corps of engineers to work with our state to build up and extend the beer made from material dredged from the immediate areas. bp should appropriately pay the bill. to prevent this type of incident from ever happening again, i have also worked with other gulf coast senators toointroduce legislation that introduced -- address is two specific areas. the iability cap for the responsibile party and

greater prepared this to address future incidents more rapidly. our assistance pact would establish a new liability cap equal to the last four quarters of the rrsponsible parties profits or double the current limit, whichever is greater. the bill would establish much greater reserve requirements for the amount of boom and would effectively capped the llaks like the one currently gushing in the gulf. that would make a killing safer, smarrer, and more reeiable, but not expensive. some in washington have tried to seize upon this real human tragedy in the gulf to advocate for a radical new energy agenda. that only cheapens the loss of those who have lost loved ones. uusolved problem to spring forward with an emotionally charged political agenda.

it is wrong.. it is an example of bankrupt leadership. republicans and democrats say they want to decrease foreign dependence on oil. but ending all domestic energy production offshore would only make us that more -- that much more dependent. we've all acknowledge that alternative fuels are the future. the sad reality is that they are still very much in the uture from a practical use standpoint. production is critical to free ourselves from foreign energy sources. it should provide a bridge toward the fort renewable cleaner future. i believe americans underrtand that, even in the midst of this tragedy. i know that louisianaians do. thank you. >> toddy, remarks from supreme court justice anthony kennedy

and why he is against a litmus test for high court nominees. he also talks about the u.s.'s overcrowded prison sentence and the rule of aw and third world countries. the vent was hosted by the palm beach county bar association in florida. "america and the courts" errors today at 7:00 eastern on c-span. after thatt the campaign 2010 coverage continues with speeches by connecticut and colorado senate democratic candidates. last night, the attorney general primary bbllot in the race tt succeed incumbent chris dodd who is retiring. the current colorado senator is now seeking a fulllu.s. senate term after replacing ken salazar, who became the interior secretary. later today, the colorado democraticcparty convention will decide whether he qualifies for his party's august 10 primary. you can sse those remarks tonight starting at 8:00

eastern. >> in some ways, it gives ou a sense of what the country is thinking at that moment. >> he looks behind the institution of the u.s. senate. "the upper house" on sunday. >> the senate returns on monday at 2:00 eastern. they will begin work on the 2010 spending bill funding military operations in iraq and aaghanistan. the legislation provides $34 billion to fund 30,000 additional troops in afghanistan as well as $913 mmllion to help haiti recover from the earthquake. the chamber also takes up two the recently passed a bill. those votes are expectee on monday. you can follow the senate live on c-span-2.

the house also returns for morning hours speeches and legislative business at 2:00. on its agenda, a bill to reauthorize efense department programs in 2011 and a measure that extends tax credits foo businesses and unemployment benefits. that is live house coverage on c-span. sotomayor on the confirmation process. >> questions over three days are not going to tell you much about a prospective judde. you have to look at their life work. that will be a clearer reflection of who they arr, how they think, and what they will do. >> with a new nominee, learn more about the ation's highest court in our latest book, "the supreme court." there are pages of candid conversation with