the gentleman from alabama. mr. bachus: mr. speaker, i would inquire as to the time left on each side. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has three minutes remaining. the gentleman has the right to close. the gentleman from massachusetts ' time has expired. mr. bachus: we heard the gentleman from pennsylvania say that there were no bailouts. i think if you submit that statement to the american people, they would tell you that there were bailouts because in fact, there were bailouts. the majority has made the statement on the floor of the house in defense of this bill that it's all been paid back. well, in fact, it has not been all paid back and i think on further examination we would all have to remember the inconvenient fact that a.i.g. still owes the american people about $150 billion. freddie mac and fannie mae, not only are there hundreds of billions of dollars that they owe, but the president, back on december 25, guaranteed their obligations which could run in the trillions. now, in addition to all that, a few stateme

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama. alabama alabama i yield myself 15 seconds. i don't think you would go to a funeral home and loan the corpse money so i don't know why you would loan money to a failing fund. you ought to put them in bankruptcy like we want to do. at this time, i yield three minutes to the gentlelady from illinois, who's the chairman of the financial services oversight committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. mrs. biggert: i thank the gentleman. i rise in opposition to this conference report and the bill. in the fall of 2008, our entire financial system and economy were on the verge of collapse. the $750 billion tarp program was proposed. i for one would never have backed it were it not for taxpayers' protection and promised that the taxpayer would be repaid. this bill breaks that promise to taxpayers and takes unspent money from the tarp program instead of paying down our $13 trillion debt. it uses the money to pay for the new federal spending. and contrary to my colleagues' rhetoric, this bill makes

she's going to be monitoring what is going on in in alabama and florida as well.o far the air quality, water quality is continually being tested and doesn't seem to be much elevated above normal levels. but i want to emphasize something she just told us and that is people who are on site involved in clean-up, they have to be mindful of the fact that we are dealing with toxins here and this could be -- this could make people very sick if they are not careful. they have to have the appropriate training, appropriate equipment. if they get sick we now have health centers that are stationed at each of the points. lisa, do you want to talk about that briefly? >> we have health and safety officers and stations at each muster point so if somebody comes and feels they have been exposed or just don't feel well the first thing to do is report it so we have a record of it and we can track it and ensure they are not penalized for reporting and making sure they put their health and health of their families first. >> ok. again i want to just emphasize everybody down here, every

they are ready to deploy. 898 in alabama, 344 in florida. to date there are another 1,900 individuals scheduled for training. the types of tasks that we have these folks involved in is handling materials and supplies, removing debris from beaches. cleaning rocks and beach areas, removing trash and other debris. safety is a primary concern. so we made sure they go through basic training, not only for the task they are doing but exposure to potential materials they could come in contact with. the majority of training is doneehere. this is actually a processing point and dispatch point for personnel. they come in here, receive their training and get their credentials and be deployed elsewhere in the area. in general the operation here is one of the best i encountered in the group. i want to commend everybody for the way the contracts, subcontractors and local community came together to help us out. with that i would be glad to take any questions. >> the governor is not very happy. what is going on? what can you do about it? >> i am here in theo

i also have a house on jackson's island, alabama. i think of the first thing that needs to happen is admiral aaan needs to ask the present for more backup, communicating to the president that cleanup is beyond the scope of the coast guard. we have seen skimmer's being rationed. we were promised earlier on that we would not have any oil coming on to the shore. all of a sudden it was ok for a while to be collected on the white beaches. we also have oil coming into he estuary ies and bays. every time the oil has encountered boom, the boom has not worked. host: we are talking with simon lomax about energy legislation and climate legislation. giving everything you have just said, what would you like to see congress do to address the oil spill? caller: i think it is fine for there to be a moratorium. especially it is fine considering what came out yesterday. i do think that most of the gulf coast, we are not certainly first in solar energy. we burn coal, we need to limit fossil fuel and move forward in every way that we can with solar, esp

he ended the day in florida after visiting alabama and mississippi. he returned to washington for an oval office address. >> a number of our elected officials are here. it is from this staging area and 1600 like it across the gulf coast that our response to the oil spill is being carried out. i saw what is being done to repair and decontaminate boom, to train volunteers, and to help with the cleanup efforts. the hard work and sense of purpose on behalf of the people of alabama as well as the gulf coast is inspiring. i had a chance during discussions with state and local officials to reiterate to them what i have been saying across the coast and that is that we want to coordinate at every level, federal, state, and local, to make sure we are leaving no stone unturned in terms of our ability to respond to this crisis. what i heard from a number of local officials today is what i have heard from books and each of the four visits i have made to this region since the deep water horizon an explosion happened in april. there is a sense that this disaster is

i'd like to thank the gentleman from alabama, the ranking member of the financial services committee, for his ongoing assistance and support. the district that i represent includes louisiana's orleans and jefferson parishes, in my district and all across the gulf coast we were still recovering from the devastating form -- storms of 2005 when we were hit with the latest disaster. the oil spill in the gulf of mexico in april presents us with economic, environmental and health challenges of unprecedented proportions. businesses have gone down because they simply do not have the short-term or long-term resources to operate. industries such as fishing and seafood processing, recreational fishing, restaurant and tourism are all suffering. i have spoken with hundreds of fishermen and oystermen from my district who are no longer able to fish the waters they and their families have fished for generations. many have spoken of desperation for not knowing how they will provide for their families. tens of thousands of claims have been filed through b.p. and the s.b.a. have made disaster loans avai

did mississippi, florida, and alabama each to 25 billion -- $25 billion? >> i am not sure about the other states. >> were you all going to send that to the parishes? >> we'')re looking a priority projects at this point. what we do not want to do is rob peter to pay paul. we want to make sure that we have the funding available to assist us and make sure that bp is responsible for the parishes. what i have heard is that there is still money available and we will fight to make sure they get additional money. >> bill, have you spend your money? >> only for overtime for employees going out there rescuing animals and putting out boom. locally be funded $1 million of herridde money to build a potato race to protect the oyster beds. we are already doing that work on our own. protect the oyster beds. >> i think if you bought that vote that has been very helpful, which is good. we have got to get more money down to these locals. >> senator burris? >> we have got to get someone in charge down there. >> senator nelson? >> i do not care who has been in ccarge, i want s

alabama and mississippi. we have to learn how to adapt to these artificial boundaries as they go across different jurisdictions of authorities and change the command and control structure. there is a latency and you can say we are slow to react, but we are trying to adapt to a spill that has never happened in this country. >> you said over the weekend it yet issued an order that journalists are to have unfettered access to the disaster site. what are you going to do to bp for preventing journalists from prior up to now and going forward. >> we can issue and administrative order. we have not issued an order like that, i have put out a general guidance. there is only two reasons media should be prohibited -- either a security or health reasons. -- security or safety reasons. unless it is security or safety reasons, there's no restriction on access. >> if bp calculates that key -- that keeping journalists away from oilbirds is more viable than whether the penalty is down the road -- >> somebody will have to give

host: bill from mobile, alabama. caller: mike, obama speech. like most people, i was pretty disappointed. -- my comment is on obama's speech. every dollar the government gets, they taking from other industries. therefore, it is an insufficient way to create anything new. the one thing he could do, which of course he is not doing, which to be some sort of cap on the amount the trial lawyers will get. if you had $100,000 loss but ppl agrees to pay, your lawyer will get 35,000 or more. the court system will get another 5000. you end up getting 60,000 out of your $100,000 loss. congress can pass a cap on disasters that says that trial lawyers cannot get more than 20 percent of the first telthousand $10,000 dollars. and that is where they could help us. host: president obama meeting with tony hayward today. he will ask bp to set up a fund immediately to help pay at claims. newspapers are reporting this morning on whether the president has the authority to make bp set this up. caller: good morning. and first of all, when obama stopped the drilling i

including jefferson county alabama. the senate version addresses this problem by helping o provide demint street the same protection that other investors -- investors already receive. we also have to ensure that we adequately addressed institutions that have been deemed too big to fail. under our current system, there are a handful of big banks that are simply no longer acting like banks. five of the largest commercial banks account for 97% of the commercial bank notional swap activity. that is a huge concentration of economic power. in my view, banks were never intended to perform these activities in the first place. it is this economic activity that contributed to these institutions growing so large that taxpayers had no choice but to build them out in order to the senate bill includes a provision commonly referred to as section 716 which seeks to address the too big to fail by accomplishing two goals. first, giving banks back to performing the duties they were taking deposits and making loans for mortgages, small bus

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama. mr. bachus: at this time i yield four minutes to the gentleman from california, a senior member of the committee, mr. royce. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. yesterday a small community banker in ohio by the name of sara walz wrote a letter. she wrote about what she believed will be the end of community banking as we know it. and she notes in her words, going forward we will no longer be able to evaluate loan applications based solely on the credit worthiness of the borrower, we will be making regulation compliance decisions instead of credit decisions. and this gets to the heart of the issue with the underlying legislation that we're discussing. despite the fact that every failed financial firm had some type of federal regulator overseeing it, the answer put forward in this bill is to give broad, largely undefined powers to those regulators and not, by the way, in the interest of safety and soundness. if the objecti

and manages mississippi, alabama, and a portion of the florida panhandle. there is a third incident command located in miami which is focused on flora. over these three into the command post is the area command structure which is locatee in robert, louisiana, outside hammond. >> i see a lot of coast guard people here and people in civilian dress. can you explain the breakdown? >> under the national incident command system, this response has been developed as part of a unified command a price for it what you find in this building more than 80 different agencies3 come from literally all over the world as experts brought support our mission here.d >> can you explain the different colored desks? >> under this structure, there are typically four command staffs that are supporting the overall running of the operation. there is the incident command which is the white vest i'm wearing a and my staff which is typically a liaison operation, our safety operation for the totaliiy, our legal operation. what is the most come -- important component of the incident command

will you get everything alabama needs? is there enough boom?> i'm here today getting a complete brief, on the booms, the people, i will meet with the governor and get the answer. >> that's where you'll come up with the plan? >> yes. >> questions from the phone line operator? >> [inaudible] >> your first question. >> repeat your question, please. >> i'm doing this by handset because it's garbled. the gentleman asked about once we understand the full production rate and what is being discharged out not being recovered, will we make that public. the answer is of course we'll make it public. we've got a flow rate technical group that i established that came up with the estimate as you know a while back that said there are two models that show us that that well was leaking between 12 and 19,000 barrels a day or 12 and 25,000 a day. we're going to, once we stab thrish this, is go back and understand the royal that was released -- the oil that was released, and make an emat of the oil lost during that period of time and make that available to the publ

yesterday, we had a total of 443 vessels of opportunity working around alabama. i want to give you a sense of where they were at. 61 vessels out of daulphin island. 74 out of dog river. 142 from bayou lebatre. 23 vessels from fairhope. we're trying to optimize the local knowledge, expertise, and talent. i would also like to talk about our qualified community responder program. what we're trying to do is find unemployed individuals that would like to seek training and get involved in this response. the goal is to train over 4000 people across these states, 1500 in alabama, 1500 in mississippi, 1500 in florida. we have trained 2700 individuals and they are ready to deploy. 898 in alabama, 1500 in mississippi, and 344 in florida. there are 1900 individuals scheduled for training. the types of tasks today are involved include carrying in handling the material and supplies, shovelling debris, removing the debris from beaches, operating power washers to clean rocks and beach areas, washing oil-covered items, and removing other trash and debris. safety is a primary conc

you are from alabama, not the onny one with a newspaper. "the wall street journal" this morning, i was reading it from texas. talking about how emotions are boiling over. bp met with local leaders to discuss cleanup efforts and were threatened with incarceration. i have a solution. "you can put that in our jail and you can sit there until you figure out." is that eflectiveeof the feeling back home? >> it is rapidly escalating in terms of frustration. half we invited bp to come speak at a chamber meeting. we were told that they had 400 chamber vessels, contract did they had 400 in waiting and 50 on the water. we were beginning the war with tar balls and things. we were not completely slammed at that point. buu that was the attitude. the money situation is the same thing. the $5,000 is more a marketing ploy. they are coming back with payments for sooe of the folks. the folks that have called about working and have not seen money as of this morning and 9:00, that is what i call. about $5,000, we have $60,000 every month in overhead. i would ge

and now is headed to florida. -- in alabama and mississippi.nd now it's headed to florida. that's going to be a four-state calamity. host: d know how they tried to make the difference? $8 billion for the cost of exxon valdez but ended up through court cases only paying $500 million for economic damages? guest: and there's three costs b.p. will face. cleanup costs, trying to soak up the oil. in the common o exxon valdes less than one out of every 10 barrels of oil was paid. then paying for the loss of people's income. in the exxon valdez, destruction of fisheries. lastly, punitive damages. it was there where the supreme court reduced them from $5 billion to $500 million. about 10%. the $8 billion figure includes all three of those for exxon. host: moving on to east point, democratic line, caller go ahead. east point, michigan. caller: i agree with everything your guest is saying. b.p. can take their oil and go back to their country. i have never gone to a b.p. gas station and never will. i would rather be proud of clean energy and see windmills

i don't have the alabama numbers. 13.4% of louisiana's work force. i know not this whole work force is focused on deep water. a shorter time than six months. some confidence that you are doing everything and the president is doing everything they can to get to the root of safety. so we can produce the oil. >> if i may respond to the question. first we have recommendations and i appreciate those recommendations. it was not their decision, it was my decision and the president's decision to move forward. but i do appreciate the experts and their involvement and point of view. secly the jobs already concerned us but we want to mike shaur that as the development takes place that it will be done in a safe way. that's why the notice that went out yesterday will allow the shallow water development programs still to continue. and the third point i would make, senator, to frame the discussion per hap in this committee. it see to me that we h three options. another option would be what some members o the congress would want us to do and that is just to stop and

for mississippi, alabama, and florida. attached a task force to work with him, 50 miles offshore to find the smaller patches attractive deal with them before they get to shore. this is an adaptation to the changing for redress of this bill, which is no longer a single spill but massive collection of smaller spills moving forward. in regards to that, what is becoming critical in the near future, to be able to get spinning capability of short and to work the small patches. we made significant price is bringing more folks into the fight in terms of vessels of opportunities. these are local fishing vessels and work boats that were certified to help us and also certified the individuals. between louisiana, mississippi, alabama and florida we have about 1500 bessel opportunities where we certified the crews and put them out there. what we now have is an opportunity to match in vessels of opportunities with skimmers. the next critical component or resource is increasing the amount of skimmers, now that we of the vessels that can

enough to stretch over 1,300 miles. 17 staging areas are in place across louisiana, mississippi, alabama, and florida. in short, this is the largest response to an environmental dissster of its kind in the history of the country. we have also ordered bp to claim -- to pay injury claims. we will make sure they pay every dime of it to people along the gulf coast. the small business administration has stepped in to provide loans and allow deferrals of existing loan payments. this week, the federal government sent bp a preliminary bill that was $69 billion to pay back american taxpayers for some of the cost of the response so far. in addition, after an emergency safety review we are putting in place aggressive new operating standards for offshore drilling. i have appointed a bipartisan commission to look into the causes of this bill. if laws are inadequate, laws will be changed. if oversight was lacking, it will be strengthened. if laws were broken, those responsible will be brought to justice. over the last few days, bp has played with their wealth. they are -- has plugged that there well.

we will continue to focus on the mississippi, alabama area. we continue to move boom into alabama. we look at strategies to deal with what they call katrina cut. with that, but i would like to take questions. you always go first. i'm going to go over here. >> cbs news radio. obviously, you have tried caping before. it has not worked. how hard is it to put a containment cap over this pipe, considering all of the oil coming out? >> prior to the cut, they had suspended the containment cap at the end of the riser pipe, right over the area. it is a matter of moving down and seeing it. you have almost an inverted funnel that is wired. the pipe has a rubber seal around it. i do not want to make this too simple. it is not unlike the rubber seal you would find around a garden hose. they will be doing that for the next couple of hours. yes, ma'am. >> what is the latest on the underwater crews, and have the dispersants [unintelligible] secondarily, how many skimmer's? >> we will get back to you for the record. there are some in louisiana, some in alabama, some in mississippi. the back to your

it is a novel idea in alabama. that is training national guardsmen to assist folks in filing claims. you have a multiplier effect. that is being discussed right now. we will have teams in every state that are able to do that. the question is getting into these books. i had some evidence there are folks sitting back because they think it is not going to work. they can come forward and they will get paid. we need to understand -- help them understand that and how to do it. >> tony hayward said bp was not prepared for a spell of this magnitude. what about the coast guard? did you discount the possibility of a major blow up in the gulf? >> no. we had always anticipated that could happen. in april 2002, we ran an exercise on an offshore oil point which was 90 miles to the west of where this happened. we envisioned a loss of the will for number of days. it almost was a similar type of event. i was the national incident commander in the drill. we rented out of the superdome. we had known about these and plan for them. wha

, dauphin island, alabama.his is becoming a problem for the entire gulf coast as we enter the first day of hurricane season. we're being told by forecasters that this will be an above average hurricane season. possibly a double whammy for those of us on the gulf coast. it will be talking about all the way until 3:00 this afternoon. we want to let the people around the country feel what we are feeling down in south louisiana. especially in the aftermath about what was the biggest disaster. we're talking about the aftermath of hurricane katrina. new orleans was fined after katrina. that is right, we were. until the levees broke. the biggest man-made disaster in the history of this country -- substandard engineering, materials. to an opportunity for politicians and those in the corps of engineers to stand in front of reservoirs and dams and talk about these great monstrosities instead of concentrating on what they should have been concentrating on, not just here in louisiana, but around the country. when you look

give you an exampl a week ao i went to te in mobile,+ma alabama. they have jurisdiction over misssippi, alabama and florida, all the way over to the area of florida. now, what i wasold wa pepper -- was that the coast guard was 51% in command and band the st. then i was told that really the is 55%n command. well, that is the problem. nobody is in charge. now, there is a way to solve is, and i donot want to sound record, but the controlommand and capability in the world is the united states military. and you have got toive somebody with a clear chain of command that al hashe capability of bringing together parties, pvate- sectornd public- agencies, and directing them to do, of, cleaning up a problem, and hhve some authority to make it happen, and have the resoces, and that everyby ows that it goes straight to the commder in cef. until you do thhs, you're going have the same problem that you're having. you're goiig to coin to have same problem that florida d yesterday', not even being in . lop, when in fact, the orange sluce is coming to florida water

host: as alabama at elected a democratic governor in recent memory? guest: not that i can recall, but it is interesting, if you look at the democratic primary race, artur davis, the race he is running, he has spurned the african-american, democratic power structure there, and is running the progressive-minded campaign. a lot of the african-american higher officials are upset at artur davis for spurning them and in their view focusing on others. host: haley barbour, a longtime washington, d.c. lobbyist, republican national committee chair and republican governor of that state, what impact does he have on the primary there? >> you mean the congressional primary? host: yes. guest: it is hard to say. the question is whether the establishment favorite will pick up the 50% he needs to face off against travis childress in the general election. if not, they will have to go to a primary. a runoff, rather, in june. but the question really is whether or not he is going to be able to take what he needs. host: alex isenstadt, following the primaries and alabama, m

the gentleman from alabama. mr. bachus: thank you, mr. speaker.this motion to instruct directs the confereeso insist that this legislation end the possibility of taxpayer-funded bailouts once and for a by stipulating that bankruptcy is the only available option for liquid ating a failed financial firm. the motion also reqres that the conferees and the public by xtension have at least 72 hours to review the contentof the conference report before its inal approval. we've heard time and time again that the democrats, quote, resolutionuthority to wind down systemically significant financial institution ends the too big to fail doctrine and protects taxpayers. that's an outrageous and false claim. read the bills. both the house and the senate let the fdido the following -- lend to a failing firm, purchase the assets of a failing firm, guarantee its obligations to creditors, take a security interest in its assets, and even sell or transfer assets that the fdic has acquired from it. and while the house establishes $150 billion bailout fund to pay for the

alabama democrats seek a new start after davis's defeat.e was seen it with the same language as they used to describe barack obama. he seemed on the quick path to the governor's chair in the montgomery state house. they are skeptical that he could win, but he shot ahead by double digits in the poll. then came last tuesday. it was yet another dispiriting performance by an alabama democrat. they see themselves all around -- democrats control the state legislature, but the reflection is cast by republicans who hold most of the top tiered collected offices such as governor and attorney general. it talks about why one of the reasons he did not succeed in the primary is because he did not seek the support of african american groups within his state. the article talks about how that may have ultimately hurt him in the end. let's go to nevada. william, republicans like. will you vote on tuesday? caller: yes, i will. host: why? caller: because i think they should be litigating -- mitigating damage down there and the gulf and freeze that water out. i

there is one in shelby county, alabama, challenging the section. it is before a judge in the district of columbia. it will be litigated again. we will go back over this ground again. one of the things that commentators said last year at this time -- it might have been right here at this panel and in this room. it might have been pam or me. we talked about this last year. there was some concern that, evident in the opinion, maybe congress should do something to better shore up the voting rights act. here is my reflection on that. four years ago, we had a very important piece of legislation -- the reauthorization voting rights act -- passed almost unanimously by congress, with a really extraordinary record of findings. unbelievable hearings and findings. 98-zip in the senate. >> for 25 years. >> the argument last year was openly hostile to what that meant. there was a ridiculing of 98-zip really means nothing in the oral argument. the idea that congress should then weighed in and fix that was what some of the commentators -- wade in and fix that was

host: alabama, charles, independent line. guest: i have a two-part question. -- caller: i have a two-part question. i pay taxes, just like my grandparents did, we are here legally. 27 years i never had to collect unemployment until five months ago. i was cut off two weeks ago without any warning and we did not know what we were going to do next. i know it is so hard to get unemployment. i just want to know how a faugh regulation -- gift card regulation bill can go up to congress and have priority over unemployment. and, with lower unemployment -- couldn't we lower unemployment if we could get rid of all of the illegal immigrants out of here and get us who were working before this happened back to work? guest: let me deal with the second issue first. i am not in favor of illegal immigration. i think everyone who comes into this country should come in through legal means. let me be clear. but i feel strongly about -- immigrants are the greatest asset. they built this country, they are the hardest working. smartest and brightest

, responsible for mississippi, alabama, and florida.e of ashley detached a task force to work for him to push out 50 miles offshore and find these smaller patches and deal with them before they get to shore. this is an adaptation to the changing characteristics of this bill, no longer a single spill but a massive collection of smaller spills moving forward. in regards to that, in the near future we will be held its gaming -- skimming capability offshore and work those small patches. we have made significant progress in bringing more into the fight in terms of vessels of opportunity. these are local fishing vessels and workboats that we certify to help us, and then also certify the individuals and train them. between louisiana, mississippi, alabama, and florida, we have about 1500 vessels of opportunity where we certify the crews and put them out there. we now have an opportunity to match them with skimmers. so the next critical component or resource we're going to be looking for is to increase the amount of skimmers now that we have ves

will continue to focus on the mississippi/alabama at issue. we continue to move boom into alabama. we are looking to deal with the entrance to mobile bay. with that, i would be glad to take your questions. you always go first, so go ahead. >> talking about top hat, you obviously try capping before and it has not worked. how hard is it to put a containment cap over this pipe to stop the oil coming out, with the currents? >> prior to the cut, they extended the containment cap at the end of the riser cut. that is suspended right over the area. it is not even moving it in. it is moving it down and seeking it. it is an inverted funnel that is wider than the pipe is going to cover. there is a rubber seal around it. i do not want to make two simple analogy, but it is not unlike the rubber seal inside a garden hose. you get that seal to fit as good as it can, understanding it is an regular cut. there will be doing that in the next couple of hours. >> what is the latest on the underwater crews and the dispersal of what is going on under water? how many skimmers are on the coastline? >> we h

the coastal beachs and marshes of louisiana, mississippi, alabama and florida. joining frus new orleans with an update on the situation is the head of the national occasionic and atmospheric administration. welcome jane lubchenco. you were with us about two weeks ago and you said you thought the oil was nine to 12 days away. 14 or more days away. is what we're seeing come ashore on all these other coastal states, is that what you were talking about then? >> we, as you know, we issue a trajectory every day based on the current weather information and occasion graphic models and can predict 72 hours out where the oil is likely to go. what we're seeing play out is, unfortunately, what we have expected in part because of weather and the currents. it is a very serious tragedy. the president has expressed his grave concern, as have the american people, and he has made it very clear that we are to do everything possible to not only stop the flow but mitigate the impact for that oil that may come ashore. >> lehrer: so the wind direction that's coming from the south and

thick oil has enveloped endangered birds in louisiana, tar balls have washed ashore in alabama, and a sheen has dotted the florida coast. and now the head of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration has confirmed what some scientists have suspected. there are oil plumes deep below the surface more than 40 miles from the gushing well. >> the we've just gotten the samples. they indicate that there is definitely oil sub surface. it's in very low concentrations. i mentioned 0.5 parts per million. >> lehrer: put together oil above and below the gulf's waves will take months to clean up. and will impact the region for years. the 1990 oil pollution act sets no limit on clean-up costs and bp has committed to paying those. company officials said they will ignore the law's $75 million liability cap. so far they've paid out $49 million in damages and face more than 150 lawsuits. on the today show, president obama had harsh words for bp's ceo tony hayward who has been quoted saying the spill's environmental impact would be very, very modest. >> he wouldn't be working for me. after any

host: birmingham, alabama. caller: good morning. i appreciate what you have done in your career. i hope they will continue to stand for what is true ricardo's of party affiliation. -- regardless of party affiliation. i hope that individuals like you, who i believe is honest and tries to do what is right for our country, -- this was a great transfer of wealth. the american people are paying for it. i appreciate all you do. host: do you suspect that you will be voting for any democratic amendments during this process of negotiations? guest: most of the amendment will be coming from us. we have agreements. i had an amendment yesterday in remarks to make about it. before i got through the first couple of paragraphs, chairman frank said he would accept it. we do have some commonality on some of these issues. we are trying to bridge the gap. host: do you suspect you will vote for the final package? guest: if there are not substantial changes in several areas, i cannot see myself voting on the package. giving them more authority and power and not holding regulators accountable and expan

fairhope alabama's city council is spending $650,000 on booms rather than wait for help from b.p. or the government. >> i've been in meetings with b.p. officials that have made commitments-- and they were open-ended commitments, they weren't pushed on them, they made them freely and those commitments have not been lived up to. >> woodruff: there were also attempts to address the complaints of damage claims stuck in limbo. national guardsmen in alabama helped fishermen, property owners, and businessmen file paperwork which many say is excessive and putting them on the brink of bankruptcy. tracy wareing, a government point person on the claims process says b.p. has now promised to expedite payments. >> b.p. recognized that their previous approach of waiting until basically after the books have closed for each month to calculate losses will not work. it won't get dollars out quickly enough for the businesses that are struggling on the ground and they have indicated that they will implement and are implementing a more expedited claims process for these larger loss business claims . >>

as it is over in alabama and florida, the physical removal process is easier, you can just pick telephoneup with a physical process like shovels, et cetera. but we've also got eggs out there, turtles are nesting at this time of the year so that's a challenge. it really is a mess. and while clearly the type of oil may be better than they experienced newspaper alaska 20 years ago, the type of habitats that we are dealing with are far more diverse and unfortunately, a bit more sensitive. louisiana's marsh isn't doing well now. we are losing 25 square miles every year of louisiana coastal wetlands, there part because of oil & gas activity. this is likely going to speed that up. >> ifill: professor portier when thad allen, admiral allen said today that this is like a massive collection of smaller spills instead of a single big spill, does that change what you do to help clean it up? >> it does because normally we have operated from a position of having a few night amount of oil so-- finite amount of oil so we know what we are dealing with. here we have repeated oiling events. so the ability to

we are working with alabama, mississippi, and florida to implement approaches to their unique coastlines. as the cleanup continues, we will offer any assistance our coastal states may need. a mobilization of this speed and magnitude will never be perfect. new challenges will always arise. if something is not working, we want to hear about it. if there re problems in the operation, we will fix them. we have to recognize that, -pdespite our best efforts, oil has caused damage to our coastline and its wildlife. no matter how effectiveeour response is, there will be more oil and damage before this siege is done. that is why the second thing we are focused on is the recovery and restoration of the gulf coast. you know, for generations, men and women who call this region home have made their living from the water. that living is now in jeopardy. i've spoken to fishermen who do not know how they will support their families this year. i have seen empty docks and restaurants with fewer customers, even in areas where the beaches are not affected. i have talked to owners of shops and hotels who won

his latest tour focused on mississippi, alabama and florida. the first stop was gulfport, mississippi, for a briefing by coast guard admiral thaad allen and local officials. the president acknowledgeded complaints of disorganized efforts to keep the oil off shore. >> one of the things that came out of this discussion is how do we make sure that there's effective coordination in terms of skimers, vessels of opportunity that are out in the water right now. can we make sure that they are spongeding as quickly as... responding as quickly as possible to the oil before it starts getting closer to the shore? >> suarez: later mr. obama met with gulfport residents, heard their frustrations after living with the spill for 56 days. then it was on to theodore, alabama, to survey the clean-up operation and tour a staging and decontamination facility. >> now, i can't promise folks here in theodore or across the gulf coast that the oil will be cleaned up overnight. it will not be. it's going to take time for things to return to normal. and in the end, i am co

in alabama, we had about 5000 vessels out. we are providing them booming equipment and other equipment. they are skimming and supporting other operations out there. later on this week, there will be meeting with bp and my staff. we will talk about individual and business related claims. we will be meeting with british petroleum on that and i will be part of that meeting. we will make sure we are aligned with the claims process and understand what bp is doing to provide any oversight. other than that, no further updates and that will turn the podium over and be glad to take your questions. >> thank you. special thanks to you for the terrific job you have done in leading the federal team for a very aggressive and strategic response to this oil spill. the bp oil spill is a human tragedy and environmental disaster. the federal partners are deeply concerned about what the oil spill means for the help of the gulf of mexico and for the millions of people who depend on these waters for their livelihood and their enjoyment. from day on

that isrue in louisiana, alabama, as well as in florida. we want to have that same nd of representation and rapid response. my understanding is that bp has contracted for $5million wort of tv advertising to manage their imaae during the cour of this disaster. in addition, there are reports that bp will be paying $10.50 billnn dividend payments this quarter. i don't have a problem with bp fulfilling its legal obligation, but i want bp to be very clear, that have moral and legal obligations here in the gulf for the mage that has been done. what i don'want to hear is, when they are spendg that kind of mey on their shareholders and spending that kind of money on tv advertising, that they are nickel-and-diming fisherman or small businesses here in the gulf who are having a hard time. we havessigned federal folks to look over because the shoulder and work with state and local officials to make sure that planes are being processed quickly and fairly and that bp is not lawyerrng up, essentially. they say they want to make it right. that is part of

that is true in louisiana, alabama, as well as in florida. we want to have that same kind of representation and rapid response. my understanding is that bp has contracted for $50 million worth of tv advertising to manage their imaae during the course of this disaster. in addition, there are reports that bp will be paying $10.50 billion in dividend payments this quarter. i don't have a problem with bp fulfilling its legal obligations, but i want bp to be very clear, that have moral and legal obligations here in the gulf for the damage that has been done. what i don't want to hear is, when they are spending that kind of money on their shareholders and spending that kind of money on tv advertising, that they are nickel-and-diming fisherman or small businesses here in the gulf who are having a hard time. we have assigned federal folks to look over because the shoulder and work with state and local officials to make sure that planes are being processed quickly and fairly and that bp is not lawyerrng up, essentially. they say they want to make it r

here in alabama in particular, about 200 of the roughly 450 guardsmen who have been specialized training to assist bp with claims processing. this is a multi-purpose force that is prepared to handle almost any challenge and i hope our governors put them to good use. . it is line to take time for things to return to normal. there is going to be harmful effects to many local businesses and it is going to be painful for a lot of folks. folks will be frustrated and some will be frustrated. but i promise you this. things will turn back to normal. we are going to do everrthing we can 24/7 to make sure that communities get back on their feet. in the end, i am confident that we will be able to leave the gulf coast in better shape than it was before. i appreciate all your efforts and to all the local a officials, we appreciate you, too. let me mention a moment about our coast guard and air national incident coordinator thad allen. thad allen was about to retire. he is working as hard as anybody in this country right now to help deal with this crisis. members of the coast guard have bben doing out

yesterday, we had a total of 443 vessels of opportunity working around alabama. i want to give you a sense of where they were at. daulphins out of island. 23 vessels from fairhope. we're trying to optimize the local knowledge, expertise, and talent. i would also like to talk about are qualified community and responder program -- our qualified community responder program. what we're trying to do is find unemployed individuals that would like to seek training and get involved in this response. the goal is to train over 4000 people across these states, 1500 in alabama, 1500 in mississippi, 1500 in florida. we have trained 2700 individuals and they are ready to deploy. 898 in alabama, 1500 in mississippi, and 344 in florida. there are 1900 individuals scheduled for training. the types of tasks today are involved include carrying in handling the material and supplies, shovelling debris, removing the debris from beaches, operating power washers to clean rocks and beach areas, washing oil-covered items, and removing other trash and debris. safety is a primary concern. w

. >> congressman spencer bachus of alabama is the ranging member of the house financial services committee on "newsmakers" this week. the guests to ask, we are joined by silla brush, the financial services reporter for "the hill" newspaper, and by brady dennis of the "washington post," financial reporter of that newspaper. thank you for being here with us. we will let brady dennis have the first go to question. >> statting broadly, talking about financial reform here in this last sort of chapter, but i anted to look back over the course of this in the past year or year and a half and ask you sort of on both sides of the aisle, everyone said, unlike health care or other issues, financial reform wasn't a naturally partisan thing. we had sort of a broken skm and a deep crisis -- system and a deep crisis, and that wasn't a party line thing. but at most steps along thh way, we have seen it break down that way. there was a partisan vote in the house, and video for the most part in the senate, we saw yesterday that there are still some of those tensions there. i was wondering why you think it end

tricia from alabama. independent line. caller: good morning. i was really trying to get through on intelligence. i just want to make a statement and ask a question. my son is a sergeant in the marine corps. he was coming home for a visit to me. london but not let him through with his passport. it makes me curious how easy it is to get through? host: staying on the topic of the war. congress is set to take up a supplemental bill. clearly, there are members of the democratic party who are not voting for more war funding. is this an area where progressives feel like the president has let them down? guest: yes, a lot of people do. i personally do not. what they're trying to do in afghanistan is tremendously hard. but yes, i think there are some progressives who are upset about that. the facts on the ground are fairly dismal. counterinsurgency is very hard. i do not know where this is going to go. i do not know how many liberal votes are set up against this. host: what kind of opportunity does the president have with his oval office address, his mee