emily schmidt joins us from washington with more. emily? >> rob and vinita, good morning. we're getting more tracking on that storm right now. looks like bonnie should be southeast of miami in just a matter of hours. then, she's going to move straight towards louisiana. as this storm moves forward, it means one big step back for the oil containment process. after a week of progress containing the oil spill, the well cap is holding. but the weather is not. tropical storm bonnie is headed straight towards the oil spill site. >> mother nature takes its course. you can't do nothing about it. take safety measures. and hope that everything works out already. and it's not a bad storm. >> reporter: most of the spill's rigs and vessels, including relief well drilling, have stopped. and they're moving out, significantly setting back efforts to kill the well. >> as the storm comes in the time we're away, which could be from a few days to two weeks. >> reporter: the ships that monitor if well cap will be the last to leave. >> we are prepared to leave the well at this particular event.

emily schmidt joins us from washington with all the details. good morning, emily. >> reporter: good morning. there are 14.5 million americans who don't have a job right now. today, the senate is set to go to work to try to figure out what to do about extending unemployment benefits. this effort has failed three times in the past. today, though, democrats believe things will be different. marilyn green is a missouri lawyer, who lost her job and now fears losing her unemployment benefits. the $320 she's received each week for more than a year. >> i'm an attorney who can't even get a job in a retail store. >> reporter: when her payments end, she will join 2.5 million americans who have lost their unemployment checks. unless congress extends the payments. >> it's time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to washington politics. >> reporter: president obama blames republicans for blocking extensions three times. te, hasn the senate, has used parliamentary maneuvers to block a vote. denying millions of people out of work much-nee

emily schmidt is joining us this morning from washington, with details on this really fast-moving story. emily? >> reporter: it's all happened within the course of just the past couple of days. good morning, vinita and rob. for a short time, it seemed like shirley sherrod's words had come back to haunt her. but instead, it's deemed the administration's making the apologies now. in 24 hours, shirley sherrod went from a forced usda resignation to a forced apology. >> i ask for shirley's forgiveness. and she was gracious enough to extend it to me. >> ms. sherrod is owed an apology. i would do so on behalf of this administration. >> reporter: the about-face was about as quickly as the media firestorm that caused it. as conservative blogs and cable tv ran a video about usda agent shirley sherrod was talking about a farmer who needed her help. >> to help a white person. so, i didn't give him the full force of what i could do. >> reporter: based on the speech clip, vilsack's office asked for sherrod to resign. the secretary says, without pressure from the white house. but it turns out sherrod'

>> emily schmidt in washington. thanks. >>> prime minister cameron is also having to answer questions about the release of the convicted lockerbie bomber. there are mounting criticisms that bp pressured the government to release him from jail to gain access to oil. senators from new york and new jersey met with the prime minister and asked him to order an investigation. >> the best news that we came out with was that the prime minister said that our request for an independent investigation, not just to look at the documents, was still on the table. >> cameron said he believes the libyan was released by the scottish government on humanitarian grounds because he was seriously ill. >>> and one more note from the prime minister's visit to washington. he extended an invitation to the president, from the queen, for an official state visit to britain. the timing still has to be worked out. >>> democratic lawmakers are expected to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed. they broke through a republican filibuster with

emily schmidt joins us from washington with the latest. good morning, emily. >> reporter: rob and meg, good morning. this is the best news of the ongoing oil spill story. but all of the key players are warning, there's no guarantee yet that this cap is going to be topped for good. this morning, there is no oil gushing into the gulf of mexico. and this picture of nothing means everything for now. >> the oil stopped. like they said, if we can get it to where we can go back to our way of life, that will be the most awesome thing. >> reporter: it is a temporary stop. but the biggest success in containing the oil spill in 88 days. yesterday, bp shut down three valves, one after the other. then, at 2:15 p.m., the company tweeted the well integrity test was starting. 70 minutes later, bp confirmed what the picture showed. >> there is no flow of oil going into the gulf of mexico. >> reporter: now, comes the next step. measures the measure of the oil on the new containment cap, if it olds. >> we need to be cautious right now. >> reporter: scientists

emily schmidt reports. >> this is something that has never happened before, a commander in chief on aaytime tv talk show. >> its departure from traditional press coverage. he hasn't held a prime time press coverage for more than a year. he blamed the media for the resignation of shirley sherrod. he admitted the administration was at fault. >> a lot of people overreacted including people in my administration. >> he also talked about vacationing with the family and he talked about the flip side. >> well, where do i begin here. country is under a tough stretch since i took office. the oil spill, we've had two wars but you think the american people have gone through. >> he put his faith in economic turnaround. >> the reason i seem calm all the time, even if sometimes we're going through turbulence, i try to take the long view. >> critics say the message may not resonate as planned. >> they say enough about me, now about you. i don't think it's going to play well. >> but it's gives him an opportunity to go beyond politics. >> and then you tweet? >> i don't tweet. i don't tweet on a regular

emily schmidt is joining us from washington on details what engineer. >> rob: discovered. >> reporter: good morning. there are new concerns this morning abs been discovered near the broken well and questions about whether that cap should be reopened to keep the damage from getting even worse. for the fourth day in a row, there is no oil leaking from a capped w pressure is and well pressure is holding steady as hoped. but the pressure of what to do next seems to be building. bp likes the cap the way it is. >> we're hopeful that if the encouraging signs continue wool be able to continue the integrity test all the way to the point that we get the well killed. so, right now there is no target set to open the well back up to flow. >> reporter: but sunday incident commander thad allen says there's an unidentified seep detected a distance from the well. he wants bp to provide more seabed testing the and the testing scheduled to wrap up will now continue in 24-hour increments. the associated press quotes a government course say there may be leaking methane. scientists are worried. it's one re

emily schmidt, abc news, washington. >>> now here is a look at your wednesday weather. york. gusty winds, hail and flooding from des moines to buffalo. thunderstorms along the gulf coast and in kentucky, tennessee, and arkansas. heavy rain in parts of the northern and central rockies. >> 87 in colorado springs. 88 in albuquerque. and 78 in seattle. it's 91 in kansas city. 86 in omaha. and 83 in minneapolis. boston heats up to 94. baltimore 92. and new orleans 95. >>> now to a look at what could happen when "here, kitty, kitty" doesn't do the job. >> that was good. a kitten in vienna tried to seek refuge in several cars before finding a secret spot deep inside a police car. firefighters couldn't reach the cat so they were forced to totally dismantle that car. >> once rescued the kitten tried to make a run for it but was quickly captured. it looks like the feisty feline did have the last meow. it bit a firefighter's finger. the kitty is in a shelter and that little precious gem is up for adoption. we'll be right back. their diabetic supplies through liberty medical. and t