ken feinberg is a hero, he'll be honest and straight.i'm worried about the erosion of the rule of law, which is the president using the vast powers of the federal government to strongarm a company no matter how unpopular and no matter how badly they may have behaved. >> lehrer: you see it the same way, mark? >> i don't, jim. i think david's one-third is interesting but now persuasive. this was not the president brutallizing anybody. b.p. made a corporate decision , its leadership dat the outset to acknowledge accountability and responsibility, to assure that they would, in fact, pay the full cost, and make people whole. and what the president does-- and i think it can be said of the presidenciy-- he may not have been jack kennedy in the oval office but he was lyndon johnson behind closed doors at the white house. i think he took that and put bones and flesh on it and said, "okay, this is what it's going to be. you can come up with $20 billion and they could have delayed the process. they could have gone the legal due process and all the

so secretary ken salazar and i are bringing in new leadership at the agency. michael bromwich, who is a tough federal prosecutor and inspector general. his charge over the next few months is to build an organization that acts as the oil industry's watchdog, not its partner. one of the lessons we have learned from this spill is that we need better regulations and better safety standards and better enforcement. but a larger lesson is that, no matter how much we improve our regulation of the industry, drilling for oil these days entails greater risks. after all, oil is a finite resource. we consume more than 20% of the world's oil but have less than 2% of the world's oil reserves. that is part of the reason oil companies are drilling one mile beneath the surface of the ocean. because we are running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water. for decades, we have known the days of cheap and asily accessibll oil were numbered. for decades, we talked and talked about the need to end america's century-long addiction to fossil fuels. for decades, we have fail

i think ken feinberg did it for the victim's family fund. that is a good way to do it, which is not just have it be helter-skelter who gets the money. having someone really smart managing the money, someone like they did after 9/11 for the victims' families. host: let's go back to phone calls. caller: this is charles kelley. i would like to thank mr. isaacson for his independence and candid remarks on not trying to point the finger on one toxic chemicals. there was much more than just agent orange spraying. we will never know exactly what caused what and what combination of what. i do not know whether it was hit group that presented that report to congress a couple of months ago. guest: that foundation has been working with us quite a bit. there are lots of good reports on this. caller: there was a report presented to congress not too long ago that pointed out several of the issues that we have been getting congress to cover for the vietnam veterans as well. i appreciate that. it backed up what we have been saying for 35 years. host: let's g

so ken salazar has been trying to clean it up. >> lehrer: senator barrasso, what about b.p. specifically? house democrat ed markey said the other day-- and i think he repeated it again today-- that he wouldn't believe anything b.p. said now. it didn't matter what it was, he wouldn't believe it. do you feel the same way? >> well, first let me say with regard to minerals management, ron widen, democrat, john barrasso, republican, introduced a bill two years ago in 2008 to try to clean up the sorts of things that senator nelson has talked about. so i agree we need to do something there and some of us have been trying to do that 0 for several years. i am skeptical of what i hear from b.p. we've heard estimates at the beginning that continued to grow so i don't know if they know what the truth is on this or if they've been advised by lawyers to not talk about things. but i'm absolutely concerned about the truth and what the american people are hearing. >> lehrer: senator nelson, you've suggest, also, that there should be a criminal investigation of b.p. to see if any laws were br

>> at the time of the accident, the president asked ken salazar to undertake a 30-day review. they reached out and talk to a lot of experts and got a lot of input. some of the people who provided input -- policy decisions were made based on those recommendations. mr. salazar made a decision to recommend a moratorium. that was a policy decision. what the experts were providing was expert advice, but not the policy decisions under the purview of the secretary. >> i will say this again. the president said this last night. we do not know what happened. 33 additional wells were being drilled at deep water depths. as we now know, the largest environmental disaster in our country was taking place. the president did not think it made sense to continue those drilling activities as we were dealing with this without knowing what was going on. i have said this before and i will say it again. the president has told governor generajindal and others, we cant here and trust bp to do anything, but we are going to take their word on the drilling in they had going on in deep water even as we had

ken on our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. rob, you stole my thunder about the jones act. there are 13 countries that want to come in and help and obama won't suspend the jones act. to me that won't make any sense. he should have been on this day one. the dutch and some other ones wanted to come day one but he was too busy campaigning, playing golf and doing this and that and being at the show of the beatles. that's how i feel. i think the oil should never have got to shore. if he would have been on the ball. thank you. host: thanks for your call. general, we're going to move on to louisiana on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: hello. i'm from louisiana. we're so thankful that you have answered the call to come here when we know that you believe mobilize the troops and people on the ground. and all the residents will be behind you. we thank you for that. now my question is this. do you think there's a possibility or any possibility that this oil could come up to lake poven train or lake importantly paul? thank you, sir

we mutually agreed that ken feinberg will run the independent claims process we are putting in place. there will be a panel to adjudicate claims that are turned down every effort will be made to expedite these claims. ken feinberg has long experience such matters including running the fund that compensated the victims of 9/11. i am confident he will assure the clans are administered as quickly and fairly and transparently as possible. cbp liabilities for the oil spill are significant and they acknowledge that fact. we will continue to hold them and all responsible parties accountable. i am confident that the people meet their obligations to the gulf coast and to the american people. bp is a strong and viable company. it is in all of our interest that it remains so. this is about accountability. at the end of the day, that is what every american wants and expects. the structure we are establishing is an important step toward making the people of the gulf coast whole again but it will not turn around things overnight. i will continue to fight each and every day until the oil is containe

that fund will be administered by ken feinberg who previously managed the 9/11 victims funds and the tarp pay funds. bp has agreed to compensate oil workers affected by the oil workers moratorium. >> and in the coming days and weeks these efforts should capture up to 90% of the oil that is leaking out of the well. now, that's not good enough, so we will continue to press bp and draw on our best minds and resources to capture the rest of the oil until the company finishes drilling a relief well later in the summers that expected to stop the leak completely. the second topic revolved around the issue of claims. as i traveled across the gulf, i heard growing frustration over the pace at which claims have been paid. and i also heard concerns about whether bp will make resources available to cover legitimate claims resulting from this disaster. so this discussion today was essential. currently, under federal law, there is a 75 million dollar cap on how much oil companies could under certain circumstances be required to pay for economic damages resulting from a spill such as this. that amo

when ken salazar became my secretary of the interior, one of his very first acts was to clean up the worst of the corruption at this agency. but it is not clear that the problems there ran much deeper, and the pace of reform was much too slow. secretary salazar and i are briiging in new leadership at the agency, michael bromwich, who was a tough prosecutor and inspector general. his charge of the next few months is to build an organization that acts as the oil industry's watchdog, not its partner. one of the lessons we have learned from this bill is that we need better regulations, better safety standards, and better enforcement when it comes offshore drilling. but a larger lesson is that no matter how much we improve our regulation, drilling for oil these days entails greater risk. oil is a finite resource. we consume more than 20% of the world's oil, but have less than 2% of the world's oil reserves. and that is part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile beneath the surface of the ocean. we are running out of places too drill on land and in shallow water. for decades, we

in line with that, it is a great privilege and honor to have ken feinberg with us today. i have known him for longer than 30 years. i was a boston globe reporter in the washington bureau and ken was working for senator edward kennedy and his legislative staff in the 1970's. can is here for a very different reason. his career in the last two decades really this bruce the assumption that lawyers go into law because they cannot do math. in fact, it can has done the opposite and made a career out of working with a rather important numbers. most visibly, i think the administration of the september 11 claims fund, but he has had numerous other experiences with similar kinds of funds. he was the administrator for the virginia tech fund and even before september 11, have been involved in other funds . he was able to figure route how to administer all of that in a fair handed an even-handed way. that has led to his two most recent assignments. one prior to a couple weeks ago, he came to be known as the executive pay is our -- czar. he was the secretary for special compensation in

in line with that, it is a great privilege and honor to have ken feinberg with us today.i have known him for longer than 30 years. i was a boston globe reporter in the washington bureau and ken was working for senator edward kennedy and his legislative staff in the 1970's. can is here for a very different reason. his career in the last two decades really this bruce the -- disproves the assumption that lawyers go into law because they cannot do math. in fact, it can has done the -- can has done the doneken -- ken has done the opposite and made a career out of working with a rather important numbers. most visibly, i think the administration of the september 11 claims fund, but he has had numerous other experiences with similar kinds of funds. he was the administrator for the virginia tech fund and even before september 11, have been involved in other funds. he was able to figure route how to take a complex litigation and compensation money and figure out how to administer all of that in a fair handed an even- handed way. that has led to his two most recent assignments. one

. >> it will be run by ken feinberg. it itss a democratic party fund run by an avid democrat.ood guy and will do a good job. >> larry: ben, did you want them to appoint a republican? >> absolutely a republican appointed feinberg for 9/11 victims fund. a republican appointed a democrat. it would have been nice if obama appointed a republican it would have shown bipartisanship. the problem is terribly serious the should not be overwhelmed by a new problem. partisanship and politics and abandoning the constitution. let's get the spill filled and return to the constitution. >> the own one raising a partisan issue is you. >> that is not true. >> you pointed out he is a good guy. let it ride. you keep saying he abandoned the constitution. there is nothing unconstitutional about what he did. >> where in the constitution does it say he can do that, professor? where he can strong arm corporations into banking $20 billion? >> it is -- ben, are you serious? >> enumerated powers, not a document of unlimited powers, enumerated powers. >> what he did was, he appealed to the -- >> he brought

ken salazar started the job, think he found a bigger mess than he bargained forch . government does have a job to play in regulating not just this industry but other industries so consumers, the environment are protected. just getting back to this moratorium. nobody wants them to be safer than people living close to them. people in louisiana, mississippi, and texas. but we have to do this for the deep water rigs faster and let the shallow rigs operate as quickly and safely as we can. it is not just louisiana jobs. the entire nation depends on this energy propose duction. even as we move to a cleaner, greener, energy future. we have to revamp minerals management. i tell you there is a lot more that needs to be done. the president's call for gulf coast restoration was music to our ears. i mean james has been ape great voice, but there have been many organizations, america's wetlands. restore, retreat, and we have got plans, larry, i have been on your show before, talking about this, we have to win this battle for gulf coast restoration. and the revenue-sharing, or dire

ken we have skimed about 18 million gallons. our yield is around 15%. we have burned 3.8 million gallons of oil. we are starting to limit the disbursements on the surface to where we needed for safety reasons for putting down organic compounds. have over 4 million gallons has been recovered through the containment cap so far. we continue to try to mobilize resources. i have a strategic resource team to look at our assets around the country. just to give you an idea of what is in a national inventory. we will have meetings about how we may want to redeploy assets. nationally, there are 2000 skimming vehicles out there. probably about 3.1 million feet of coastal boom. what we will be doing over the next couple of days is doing a risk analysis. and the international assets we are seeking. try and come up with a way to mask our forces more effectively. >> as the oil gets there it will be smaller flows. we have part of the work done. our work continues and we will we are looking to put pressure gauges down on the blowup prevent dirt to see if we can come up

this is not our core competency, and yet i spent time speaking with ken feinberg, it will form the infrastructure for the independent claims process. i absolutely understand. i grew up on the gulf coast. i know those beaches down there, and this is a very difficult time for people. and it's very difficult-- a lot of b.p. people live and their families are down there on the gulf coast as well. it's very personal for all of us. >> woodruff: finally, your chairman, mr. sonberg today, at the white house, in speaking to reporters, referred to the people who live in the gulf region as "small people." there's already been reaction to that, people taking offense. how can you-- what do you have to say about that? well, judy, i know how he feels. i know exactly what his intent was. english is his second language. his native language is swede expeditious what he was talking about is small businesses, and he's absolutely understanding of the way people feel. he's on his way to the gulf shortly. i think he just misspoke a little bit, but his intent was very clear. >> woodruff: bob dudley, managing director of

my role was to introduce the future speake genral ken keendeputy commander of u.s. southern command. after genel keenspeaks, we will take a few questions and then we will turn the meetng over to the chairman ofthe haiti working group, pofessor robert maguire, wh will introduce the rest of the panel. you have general keen's by yo, so will just know he was an haiti of the day of th earthquake on a prearanged visit and mediately began to organize the response. he stayed on to command the rest of the three joint task force that provided security and humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of the disaster. atits height, the operation united response had more than 22,000 american military personnel, ncluding a ombat brigade team in the 82nd airborne and two marine battalions from an aircraft carrier, the uss cool and the hospital ship. this week, th last 300 troops of the operation left haiti, leaving behind the record of accomplishment. among its achievements was e u.s. ilitary role in a rapidly recovering the port-au-prin airport and getting it up and running and opera

at a senate hearing, interior secretary ken salazar said the obama administration still plans to appeal but he said he'll issue a new order to address the judge's concern. >> it is important that this moratorium stay in place until we can assure that deep water drilling can be done in a safe way. >> reporter: and steny hoyer wrote to the president seek a summit with east coast governors and local officials, citing fears oil from the gulf spill eventually could reach the atlantic ocean and move north. >> the federal reserve will hold interest rates at record lows. policy makers pledged today to keep them there for an extended period. they cited corporates about the effects of europe's debt crisis. the fed statement on europe undercut with any moment oum wall street .the dow jones gained just under five points to close at 10298. the nasdaq fell seven points to close at 2254. the crews fighting a huge wildfire in arizona reported some progress today. the blaze near flagstaff was 20% contained after scorching 22 square miles. about one thon people were allowed to return to their homes inspe

. >> ifill: ken salazar tried to reassure lawmakers on the senate energy panel that the ban would only be temporary. >> it's the pause button. it's not the stop button but it's the pause button. it's a pause button so we can make sure if we move forward with drilling in the outer continue netal shelf that it can be done in a way that is protective of people and protective of the environment as well. >> ifill: earlier today at an oil conference in london, transocean, the owner of the sunken rig, criticized the obama administration's approach. ceo steven newman told reporters there are things the administration could implement today that would allow the industry to go back to work tomorrow without an arbitrary six month time limit. b.p. also came in for criticism. protesters twice interrupt a speech by b.p. chief of staff steve westwell who was standing in for ceo tony hayward. other oil executives at the conference warned that the deep water drilling ban was ... would cripple world energy supplies. the court decision did not end the debate. for more on what's driving it, we turn to rayo

already paid out more than $95 million and we've announced an independent claims facility headed by ken feinberg to ensure the process is as fair, transparent and rapid as possible. fourth, we need to know what went wrong. so that we as a company and we as an industry can do better. that is why less than 24 hours after the accident i commissioned a nonprimpd investigation. die it because i want to know what happened and i want to share the results. right now, it's simply too early to say what caused the incident. there is still extensive work to do. a full answer must await the outcome of multiple investigations including the marine board. to sum up, i understand the seriousness of the situation and the concerns, frustrations and fears that have been and will continue to be voiced. i know that only actions and results, not mere words, ultimately can give you the confidence you seek. i give my pledge as the leader of bp that we will not rest until we make this right. we're a strong company and no resources will be spared. we and the entire industry will learn from this terrible event and

ken salazar will be at that hearing. live coverage on c-span radio and c-sppn3 television.had been in charge of the operations in the americas and asia at will report to tony hayward. more on the oil spill coming up in a moment on "washingttn journal." the federal reserve is expected to leave interest rates at record lows and to keep them there for awhile. those are some f the latest headlines on c-span radio. recounts aard re trial. 45 days in a dark cell after being captured by taliban fighters. he writes about it in "captive." find the entire weekend schedule at booktv.org. and join us on twitter. >> learn more about general stanley mcchrystal. watches c-span appearances with the c-span video library, free on your computer any time. it is washington your way. >> "washington journal" continues. host: john shadegg is here to talk about a whale drrlling. -- is here to talk about oil drilling. this is a story yesterday in "the new york times" quoting the epa administrator, and co-chair of this mission to look at this. any moratorium would require the industry require safer d

finally, ken bloch, the founder of the moderate party in rhode island. he is a first-time candidate. >> good evening, thank you. i am the moderate party candidate for governor. i am totally on like every other candidate standing on this stage. i am a self-made entrepreneur. i work extraordinarily hard and i am sure to night in politics, i started a new political party out of frustration with the political status quo, the destruction in our political system, and i realize that we need new people coming into government. we need people not beholden to special interests. we need people serious about addressing the problems that definitely affect our state. we aren't getting what we need as citizens from our elected officials and i am here to change that. my business back and allows me to know. i don't have to talk to business and owners, i know what does not work i will prove to you that i have the requisite skills necessary to govern and governor weld and fix what's broken in this state. i have to say hello to sam and an hour -- please be kind to the babysi

ken has long experience in these matters including running the department that compensated victims of 9/11. i am confident that he will administer claims as quickly, fairly, and transparently as possible. 'bp's liabilities are significant. we will continue to hold bp and all responsible parties accountable. i am confident bp will be able to meet its obligations to the gulf coast and the american peoplee bp is a strong and viable company and it is in our interests that it remain so. what this is about is accountability. that is what every american wants and expects. the structure we are establishing today is an important step towards making the people of the gulf coast whole again but it will not turn things around overnight. i want all americans to know that i will continue to fight each and every day until the oil was contained, until businesses recover, and until the gulf coast bounces back from this tragedy as i know it will. one last point. during a private conversation with the chairman, i emphasized to him that for the families i met with down in the gulf, or the small business

host: in one of the editorials you took aim at ken salazar -- what kind of job do think has been doing? and more specifically, mms which is gone through its on transformation as a result of the april 20 spill? guest: obviously, mms has done a terrible job. at this time i don't know how much we can expect the federal government to do. certainly, there is no expertise to stop this well from leaking. it will have to be bp. we would like to see -- it is hard to understand bp's responne gutted by the coast guard and pushed by the federal it seems to be so strange, lacking. -pthe oil is appearing close to here and we would like to see a whole fleet out there hitting phe edges of it before it hits, but they keep telling us that there are skimmers ut there. we do not see many. we are expecting to see an overwhelming response. we want to see bp i do like this is their own backyard and we're not sure that ww are seeing that. host: yet we do see a new advertising campaign with the ceo tony nayward saying that they will get this right, essentially. do you dobp? >> did you believe bp? guest: they c

my role was to introduce the future speaker, general ken keen, deputy commander of u.s.ern command. after general keen speaks, we will take a few questions and then we wi turn the meeting over to the chairman of the haiti working group, professor robert maguire, who will introduce the rest of the panel. you have general keen's by yo, so i will just know he was an haiti of the day of the earthquake on a prearranged visit and immediately began to organize the response. he stayed on to command the rest of the three joint task force that provided security and humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of the disaster. at its height, the operation united response had more than 22,000 american military personnel, including a combat brigade team in the 82nd airborne and two marine battalions from an aircraft carrier, the uss cool and the hospital ship. this week, the last 300 troops of the operation left haiti, leaving behind the record of accomplishment. among its achievements was the u.s. military role in a rapidly recovering the port-au-prince airport and getting it up and run

interior secretary ken salazar has joined this hearing with michael bromwich who will head the new agency. >> i would like to say good morning and welcome, everyone, to the interior subcommittee is oversight hearing on the proposed reorganization of the minerals management service. the responsibility had been conducted by the minerals management service into a new management structures that will improve the management, oversight, and accountability of activities on the outer continental shelf, ensure a fair return to the taxpayer from royalty and revenue collection and provide independent safety and internal oversight and enforcement of offshore activities. our principal witness this morning, the person who will walk us through the proposed reorganization, is the secretary of the department of interior, ken salazar. thank you, mr. secretary, for finding time in what i know is incredibly busy schedule. we are also joined by michael bromwich, a former inspector general at the department of justice who has been appointed by the president to implement the reorganization and reform effort. i h

. >> does ken feinberg of commons it out of the $20 billion fund or separately? -- does ken feinberg get compensated out of the $20 billion fund or separately? >> separately. >> in light of the internal document from bp that has surfaced implying the possibility that possibly two times as much oil is spilling into the gulf, it does the bed ministers -- those the administration feel like $20 billion is enough? >> this is not a cap. we will continue to apply pressure until we see that all the claims are paid. >> the president met with general james amos last thursday, he is the nominee for common and -- for the marine commandant. some of the president's bhatia are waiting -- >> some of the pressure on [unintelligible] >> i do not think that there is a person in this country who does not think that the president' should not have a wek to clear his mind. after a day on friday when the strength in the lobby and ethics rules, after going to ohio to talk about the new economy and the progress that is being made it in at some of the stimulus around the country, i think a

the link to terrorism is there ken holt carla -- and i hope carla speaks to that. it is a serious problem that we need to do something about. there are several things that i think are required. i applaud the center for hosting this symposium today to bring attention to the serious and growing problem of organized influence on piracy. not every act of piracy cannot be linked to organized crime. not everyone growing marijuana is related to organized drug cartels. there is a strong link between a lot of the activity that occurs and organized crime. this is an example of a recent blockbuster film and how quickly activities breads. let's talk about "iron man 2." before that film was shown, we identified 24 unique recordings of that that were conducted in various countries. our studios watermark the content so we can tell when we pick up a pirated dvd exactly what theater and what country the original recording was conducted at. there were 24 recordings that showed up in the u.s. some were just ordeal. pirate organization will capture a video in one theater in one langua

his name is ken abbott. ken abbott has been test foying all da in washing across the street. in the natural resources committee. he's a whistle-blower. he got fired six months after he replaced mr. duff because he raised the very same concerns that there was not proper documentation, on the b.p. "atlantis." he was fired. even though, even though he raised issues that obviously have a lot of resemblance to the kind of attention to the safety protocols that were part of the b.p. horizon rig. is it part of your policy, mr. hayward to fire employees who -- who raise questions about the safety of your rigs? >> no, it is not. >> well, mr. -- mr. hayward, i'm afraid that is what happened. to mr. abbott. because, not only was he fired, but two weeks later they put out and was told he was part of a forced reduction but your company then put out an advertisement to hire someone to replace him on that job. earlier you said, all of the other b.p. wells in -- in the gulf of mexico that had been completed are secure and are safe to -- to operate. do you still stand by that? >> i do. >> now

when interior secretary ken salazar took office, he founded agency that had been plagued by corruptionit was corruption that was underscored by the recent inspector general's report that uncovered all the activity that took place. he immediately took steps to clean up that corruption but this oil spill has made clear that more reforms are needed. for years, there has been a too cozy relationship between oil companies and agencies that regulate them. we decided to separate the people hat permit offshore leases and collect revenues and to regulate the safety of drilling. in addition, we have placed a six-month moratorium on drilling new deepwater oil and gas wells on the outer continental shelf. now that a 30-day safety and environmental review was complete, we are making a series of changes. the review recommended aggressive new operating standards and requirements forr offshore energy companies which we will put in place. i have also called on congress to pass a bill to provide critical resources to respond to this bill and better prepare us for any spills in the future. all that has t

. >> my name is ken.en t e point i want to k in a that waswheter or not as a rest the apparent diminishing influence of the tea party overhe last coupleof months whetr or not you think the fact th tea partiers didn't stop the healthcare bil whether or not you hink that is going to turn into apathy at the voting booth either in 20 or 2012. >> i wouldn't say that it's rned into apathy. there's another question we sk in the survey on a scale of one mind how likely d you belie y are to vote in the november elections and the tea partiers gave teselves i believe 8hereasver what was clser to eight. slightly higher t the average voter and if you are somebody that's geting out and goin the rallies you obviously cared eoughwhe i believe you will s what t polls and vote and so i believe even though the loss over the health care bill was probably eartening i don't hink at it has markd complete draiing of energy away from the tea party and i believe as we get closer to the nvember election and the stakes reemerge i t

ken starr with a yes or no? >> in many of usaids scenario, we almost have no choice. >> can we count on them to reliably self report civilian casualties and weapons discharges. this is my second try to get a yes or no. can we rely on them or not? >> i am not sure. >> do you think is quite possible to rely on them when they have reported zero in hundreds of the reports. >> is a question i cannot answer. >> ms. lam, let me ask you. on no of your diplomatic service. i know that in some of your areas, you have agents aboard vehicles and some of these contracts have video screens. you have a critical -- credible reports. absent that kind of scrutiny, and a lot of the theater does not have the kind of scrutiny, can we count on private security contractors to reliably report all of their civilian casualties and all of their weapons discharges? >> if you categorized them with all of them, i would say no. but since we have created a position for contract coordinator and we have drastically increase our relationship with

ken starr and ted olson have suggested to the committee that y are a qualified nominee. there's no to doubt in my mind that you are a liberal person. that applies to most of the people on the other side. and i respect them and i respect you. i'm a conservative person. and you would expect a conservative president to nominate a conservative person who did not work in the clinton administration. so the fact that you've embraced liberal causes and you have grown up in a liberalousehold is something we need to talk about, but that's just america. it's okay to be liberal, it's okay to be conservative, but when it comes time to be a judge, you got to make sure you understand the limits that position places on any agenda, liberal or conservative. your judicial hero is an interesting guy. you're going to have a lot of explaining to do to me about why you picked judge barack as your hero because when i read his writings, a bit disturbing about his view of what a judge is supposed to do for society as a whole, but i'm sure vul good answers and i will look forward to that discussio

he dismissed the suggestion from ken salazar that the government should cap the well. he said the government did not have the resources to do that. dealing with hurricane katrinn work in his favor. birmingham, alabama, on our democrat line, go ahead. hello? i don't have birmingham. that should be birmingham. go ahead. caller: i have a suggestion to stop the oil leak. you can get this [unintelligible] and mix it with some of this power. --powder. you can use robert --rubber. i have another idea. get a small tree and put it in the hall. ole. [unintelligible] you can get a rowboat and fitted over that hole. host: thank you for your views. we have about 15-20 minutes of your calls about what is set for the u.s. energy policy after the gulf oil spill. the british prime minister complained last week about white house criticism of bp, saying it was hurting bp stock which is important to retirees in the uk. this headline succesays the u.k. should back down over be paid. are independent line, go ahead caller: thank you for cspan but i want to talk about all the promises that ha

>> we have set up an independent claims facility under ken feinberg. within that system, there will be an opportunity for anyone to appeal to three judges. that system does nothing to deny anyone any rights with respect to any claims process. it is simply a way of expediting the process so it is fair, efficient, and fast. >> i want to talk to you about that, because this is what i have been hearing from people involved in the claims process. i have been informed bp's process is that a submission of a claim is not a resentment for a person with the claims process under that act, and the reason bp has taken that position is because they did not consider it certain if there are future losses that have not been yet determined or if there are ongoing economic losses with no date certain. are you aware of this process. >> we are aware of the process. >> would you understand the problem that creates for someone with an ongoing economic loss like the straw vote officer that testified last week who is without work because -- let the officer that testified last

a lot of people, i am sure, do not know that the co for unocal, that was all tied into enron and keneia anlay and these so-cald funding of afghanistan with the minerals, the titanium and the copper, and all of the other minerals that lay dormant their, i do not think that is anything new. i think that they have known that for a while and they used 9/11 as a cover. host: from the "washington post" writing about the u.s. debt looms large after g-20. one of the figures that they put forth in january, the obama administration predicted that the deficit would precede $1.5 trillion by the end of the year, but then a windoto window by thr 2015 -- to dwindle by the year 2015. next caller, go ahead. caller: just a comment about general patraeus, going back to 1966 and fort riley, kansas. they have as walking -- i was in the u.s. infantry in the army. they had as walking and gave us one canteen of water. -- they had us walking and it was one canteen of water. what i'm trying to bring out is the point of dehydration. we are so far behind in our thinking about what should be done and what is bei

interior secretary ken salazar is on capitol hill to testify about the reorganization of the minerals management service. that is at 11:00 a.m. eastern. at 1:00 p.m. eastern, they continued to work on the financial regulation bill. [applause] >> thank you very much. i'm appreciative of that introductionn they're setting up more chairs over here if you want to come over here. i will wait while you transition from my left to your right. depending on what your perspective is. i want to say how pleased i am to be here. i am particularly pleased to be here with you. bob and i have worked together. bhatt dixie, the leader of the coalition, an extraordinary gap. and david walker, i congratulate him on the work that he has been doing not only in its present position but in his prior position, where he brought it clear and honest analysis to some of the issues that were concerning our country, particularly from the fiscal standpoint. this month, a gallup poll asked americans to name the greatest threats facing our country. two answers tied for the top choice. one was terrorism. the other was d

>> barbara from ken very, colorado.rbara, please ask your question. -- barbara from denver, colorado. barbara, please ask your answer. >> mr. president, i am barbara. >> how are you? >> i would like to have you answer a question. >> i'm all ready. >> ok. for health care reform, i am concerned about how any health care changes will impact seniors and choices around alternatives to having to go to live in a nursing home. my friends and i want to live independently. >> well, it is a great question. and let me just say, you sound like a woman that after my grandmother's heart because she -- some of you know my grandmother passed away a couple years ago. she helped raise me so i was very close to her and she lived in hawaii. after my grandfather passed away she had the same little apartment she had had when i was growing up over there. we kept on trying to say, you know, listen, why don't you move to chicago? and she said, what am i, an idiot? i am going to trade 80 degrees and trade winds for chicago winter? but she was alw

host: in one of the editorials you took aim at ken salazar -- what kind of job do think has been doing? and more specifically, mms which is gone through its on transformation as a result of the april 20 spill? guest: obviously, mms has done a terrible job. at this time i don't know how much we can expect the federal government to do. certainly, there is no expertise to stop this well from leaking. it will have to be bp. we would like to see -- it is hard to understand bp's response gutted by the coast guard and pushed by the federal government. it seems to be so strange, lacking. the oil is appearing close to here and we would like to see a whole fleet out there hitting the edges of it before it hits, but they keep telling us that there are skimmers out there. we do not see many. we are expecting to see an overwhelming response. we want to see bp i do like this is their own backyard and we're not sure that we are seeing that. host: yet we do see a new advertising campaign wiih the ceo tony nayward saying that they will get this right, essentially. do you dobp? guest: they clearly under

prior to his career with marietta city cools, ken carter worked for the atlanta ymca teachi and training children. he drove a bus back and forth from the y making sure that underprivileged kids had access to the facility. coach carter has always sid that behavior is the number one problem with youth and the training he gave at the ymca taught kids how to be both good athletes and good people. it was here that he met the reverend martin luther king junior. king went tohe ymca often to swim and carter would listen to his stories about civil rights issues. coach carter said working with king was a source of personal inspiration and many life lessons. coach carter has been active with his church and served as a superintendent of sunday school for 22 years. his dedication and selfless attitude are well known as coh carter has been recognized as the outstanding man of the year, teacher of the year and has also received an outstanding service award. congratulations, coach carter, on your retirement. and thank you for everything you have given to marietta school system. mr. speaker, with that, i

when interior secretary ken salazar took office, for example, he found a minerals and management servicesncy that had been plagued by corruption for years -- corruption that was underscored by a recent inspector general's report that uncovered appalling activity that took place before last year. took steps to clean up that corruptionn but this oil spill has made clear that more reforms are needed. too cozy relationship between oil companies and the agencies that regulate them. that's why we've decided to separate the people who permit offshore leases, who collect revenues, and who regulate the safety of drilling. in addition, we've placed a six- month moratorium on drilling new deepwater oil and gas wells in the outer continental shelf. and now that a 30-day safety and environmental review is complete, we're making a series of changes. the review recommended aggressive new operating standards and requirements for offshore energy companies, which we will put in place. and i've also called on congress to pass a bill to provide critical resources to respond to this spill and better prepare u

ken is joining us from louisville, ky. caller: am i on the line? host: you sure are. go ahead. caller: the people who call with an agenda, the lady who calls every three months and gives you the lines and stories and she always says the same thing. support is a real put the kids -- those people have nothing to talk about. turkey is very hurt right now because the european union after many years of discussion decided not to let them join the european union because they are afraid of millions and millions of muslims joining the european union. this is a very important of the. a couple of weeks ago with iran and brazil holding hands and the air in opposition to u.s. policy to iran. when we had the last war in iraq, they refused to let us use the territory. we had to go all the way around it. they are supposed to be our france. -- supposedly are friends. it used to be a good friend of israel for years, but now because they are becoming more islamist -- was a beautiful country, the people of great. change the country -- but i saw the pictures, almost all women now are being covered

. >> names ken paris. want to ask about the relationships between deficits and jobs. said that one percent reduction in deficit would increase [inaudible] lot of pressure on congress to reduce the deficit in the midst of a job crisis would exacerbate the problem. wheres the focus? is it on job creation for long-term growth and have the economy increase in a long term sustained basis or on deficit reduction. >> well, look, i think what's very clear is we face two very substantial serious deficits in near term job rates with an unemployment rate that is the unaccept bli high and causing a crisis if not addressed. i think we ignore either of the problems at our peril. we need to address aggressively both of them. in some cases i think the debate about job source deficit is a false choice. we have to be - it's a question of timing. we have to act aggressively to address job deficits now and to bring out the deficit if we don't do that we're going to create another crisis and no one wants that. >> on expediting position that has a long history of bipartisan support. passin