From NBC's Athena Jones and Mark Murray
Emerging from a marathon meeting with BP officials, President Obama today announced that the embattled oil company had agreed to establish a $20 billion escrow account to cover damage claims resulting from the worst environmental disaster in the nation's history.

He also said that $20 billion is not a cap, and added that BP would create at $100 million fund to compensate unemployed oil workers affected by the government's six-month moratorium on exploratory drilling in deep water.

"The people of the Gulf have my commitment that BP will meet it obligations to them," Obama said. "BP has publicly pledged to make good on the claims that it owes to the people in the Gulf, so the agreement we reached sets up a financial and legal framework to do it."

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Obama called today's meeting -- his first with BP officials -- "constructive" and said the current $75 million cap on oil companies' liability in the case of oil spills under federal law would "obviously be insufficient" and that therefore the escrow account would provide "substantial assurance" that claims would be honored. BP has agreed to contribute $5 billion a year over a four-year period to the account, including this year, according to a White House fact sheet.

Ken Feinberg, who ran the 9/11 victim's fund, will administer the escrow account independently, and a three-person board will handle damage claims that are turned down, the president said.

In addition, Obama stated that the escrow account did not supersede either individuals' rights or states' rights to present claims in court, and said BP would continue to be liable for the environmental disaster it has caused.

The remarks came after a meeting between administration officials and BP executives that lasted several hours. Among those in attendance at the Roosevelt Room discussion were BP CEO Tony Hayward, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP General Counsel Rupert Bondy, BP Managing Director Robert Dudley, White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

After the meeting, BP's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, told reporters that the company and the administration were "fully aligned," he apologized to the American people, and said the company would not pay out dividends for the rest of the year.

Svanberg also assured the press that the BP cares about "the small people" like the shrimpers, fisherman and small business owners of the Gulf Coast.

From NBC's Luke Russert
BP CEO Tony Hayward will testify June 17th before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations within the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) with ranking GOP member Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR).

Here's the committee's release:

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Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Hearing on "The Role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill"

WASHINGTON, DC - The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing entitled "The Role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill" on Thursday, June 17, 2010, in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will examine what caused the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and the oil spill that continues to spread across the Gulf of Mexico.

INVITED WITNESS:

· Tony Hayward, Chief Executive Officer, BP PLC

WHEN: 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 17

WHERE: 2123 Rayburn House Office Building

From NBC's Andrew Gross
At today's Department of Homeland Security briefing on the oil spill with the Coast Guard's Thad Allen and NOAA's Jane Lubchenco, subsurface concentrations of oil were confirmed, and found drifting as far as 142 miles away from the site of the explosion.

Allen said that while the term "oil plume" has been used widely for several weeks, he said that is incorrect. "Cloud is a better term," he said.

Lubchenco chimed in, saying that people should think of this like ash from a volcano, the plume takes it up, where it then forms a cloud that drifts about on wind currents.

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She added that the underwater measurements show that the oil in this cloud is concentrated in small amounts so far.

"Concentrations of the oil are in the range of 0.5 parts per million," she said.

The test results showed there is oil subsurface, its in the water column, and they are using samples from three different sites to create an MRI-like 3-D underwater image to see where the subsurface oil is and where it is drifting.

Allen also added that one of the four vents on the containment cap is now closed.

From NBC's Ken Strickland
Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) says the efforts to rescue animals from the oil spill "needs to be ramped up significantly."

In a letter to Adm. Thad Allen and the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Vitter is asking that the wildlife rescue teams be expanded because growing number of animals in danger.

"Anecdotal evidence I have gathered, including from my own trip to East Grand Terre Island and verified reports of one and a half hour response times in some cases, make it clear to me that the relatively low numbers of oiled wildlife reported up to last week are either inaccurate or now completely outdated," Vitter writes.

Here's the full text of Vitter's letter:

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Dear Admiral Allen and Dr. Gould:

As the oil spill disaster continues, I would like to highlight an important part of the response, which, unfortunately, needs to be ramped up significantly: dealing with affected birds, mammals, and wildlife. I write to ask your assistance in ensuring that we devote the proper resources to rescuing as many affected animals as possible.

I am very thankful for the efforts of the Unified Command and many organizations already on the ground, including Tri-State Bird Rescue, the International Bird Rescue Research Center, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, and many volunteers provided by the Louisiana State Animal Response Team. Also, I know that the Humane Society of the United States and other organizations stand ready to provide more trained and licensed responders.

As this event moves from affecting one state to now four, and as the heavy oil hitting shore spreads almost exponentially, it seems clear that the effort must be expanded now. Anecdotal evidence I have gathered, including from my own trip to East Grand Terre Island and verified reports of 1½ hour response times in some cases, make it clear to me that the relatively low numbers of oiled wildlife reported up to last week are either inaccurate or now completely outdated.

I have two specific requests. First, as the Unified Command deploys vessels to gather data on water conditions and to conduct reconnaissance, I ask that each team include one to two persons who are properly trained to spot and handle wildlife humanely. This would greatly expand the wildlife teams beyond the limited vessels dedicated exclusively to that purpose.

Second, I would like to have a conference call soon with the appropriate people in your agencies to discuss the animal rescue efforts. My office will be in touch later today to schedule that call.

Thank you for your work during this response, including what has been done already and will continue to be done to help the affected animals.

Sincerely,
David Vitter
U.S. Senator

From msnbc.com:

President Barack Obama promised Saturday to stand with the people of the Gulf Coast "until they are made whole" and recovered from the damage caused by the oil spill, as he defended his handling of the disaster. Obama recorded his weekly radio and Internet address from this barrier island town he visited Friday on his third trip to the Gulf since an April 20 drilling rig explosion unleashed a gusher of crude into the waters there. He spoke of the people he'd met — an oyster fisherman named Floyd whose oyster beds have been destroyed by oil, and Terry, a shrimper who is losing income because shrimp fishing has been shut down.

Here are the president's remarks in a conversation with local residents, as provided by the White House:

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For Immediate Release June 4, 2010

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN CONVERSATION WITH LOCAL RESIDENTS

Camardelle’s Live Bait and Boiled Seafood
Grand Isle, Louisiana

THE PRESIDENT: Everybody knows the Mayor. The Mayor has gathered up a group of local businesspeople. Butch, for example, owns a marina; Terry, a shrimp boat; Floyd, oyster fisherman; and Patti has a convenience store; Chris is the owner of this bait shop.

And so we were just talking about the economic impact that this has had. And just to give you a sense of perspective -- Terry has been shrimping out here for 46 years. His grandfather did it before him. And right now things are completely shut off for him.

Floyd, he leases the oyster beds from the state. The state now, obviously, and properly so, has said he can't be pulling seafood out of these waters right now. He’s got oil that's starting to seep in into these oyster beds where he’s got leases and, as a consequence, Floyd is trying to figure out how long this damage is going to last.

FLOYD LASSEIGNE: I'm a fourth generation, and I've got a son who is a fifth generation, so we've been -- somebody lease has been -- been in the family for 100 years.

THE PRESIDENT: Butch was talking about the marina and making the point that these three, four months are basically when all the business comes down. And normally all his slips would be full right now -- sounds like about only a third of them are full and it may get worse from there.

BUTCH GASPARD: Our charter boat guys are hurting real bad, too, because all the charter boat business is shut down. They make a living off of taking people out fishing.

THE PRESIDENT: So right now, Butch isn’t taking a salary so he can pay his employees, but he doesn’t know how long that's going to last.

Then you’ve got Patti, who owns a convenient store. Obviously that store is dependent on these guys -- the boats coming in, filling up with gas, buying ice, buying soft drinks. So she’s down 85 percent on her business right now.

So this is just a sampling of what’s happening out here. And part of what we talked about was what we can do to prevent oil from coming into these areas; part of what we talked about is -- in terms of the relief effort -- can we deploy folks who’ve got boats here to help save their livelihoods right where they are, as opposed to having to go to other places. And so I'm going to ask Admiral Allen to make sure that he’s looking at where people are being deployed, where vessels are being deployed, to make sure the people who know the waters best end up being hired there.

And the final thing is we've got to talk about -- what we talked about up in New Orleans -- which is are we making sure that claims are being processed effectively. And right now, after that initial $5,000 check that BP wrote, the claim center has been taking in claims, but it sounds, based on what I'm hearing, that there’s a lot of process but not much actual action. And so we're going to see if we can do something better on that.

But the main point I think I want to make -- and, Mayor, feel free to chime in on this -- is these are communities that have had a way of life for generations, and what people are concerned about right now is not just the damage done in the short term -- because these are some tough folks. They’ve been through hurricanes and --

VOICE: Low prices.

THE PRESIDENT: -- low prices --

VOICE: High cost of fuel.

THE PRESIDENT: Terry was talking about how the walls stay up on a building around here; a hurricane comes, you wash out the mud and a week later everybody is back in business. So these are folks who are used to hardship and know how to deal with it. But what they’re concerned about right now is, is this going to have a lasting impact that they can't recover from. And that's why Thad and the rest of the federal team is so committed to making sure that everything that can be done will be done.

This is going to be bad, no matter what we do. But we can hopefully minimize the damage, but it requires good coordination between the state, federal and local; and it requires BP to make sure that, as I said up in New Orleans, folks aren’t getting nickled-and-dimed and that we're doing what we need to do early to prevent the worst-case scenario from happening later.

So, Mr. Mayor, anything you want to add?

MAYOR CAMARDELLE: Well, again, the main concern is to block these five passes that we talked about. The barges are available, Admiral, right there all along the coast, from Venice to Harvey Canal, all the way back to Homer. They’re standing by, and hopefully we can get the President to get on BP -- between both of you guys -- so we can put some barges there temporary to block these passes so we can save Claiborne Parish, LaFourche Parish, St. Charles Parish, Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines Parish. And Jefferson Parish, where we live at -- if we can block them five passes right now, these fishermen can tell you that we can save -- continue to save the rest of the 2 million acres of oysters.

We have $2 billion worth of seafood that comes out behind me, right in this estuary -- $2 billion worth. We have a billion dollars of recreational license -- recreational fishing -- that generates to the marinas, to all the stores, all the way across Louisiana. But these guys -- this woman here with the convenience store, if we lose the estuaries in the back, we're history. And they’ll tell you that.

We're born and raised -- our grandfathers, grandmothers. We made a living right here behind us. There’s no reason why this shrimp boat should be tied up, it don’t have skimmers on it, to make sure we can block the oil until we put these booms. And I'm asking you to --

THE PRESIDENT: To go to work. Last week when I was talking to the Mayor, he started choking up just talking about the fact that out of his own pocket he was having to provide some help and some loans to his buddies, to fishermen, folks in the area. That's what we should be able to prevent. There’s oil washing in, but people can help each other. And the company that's responsible can make sure that it’s responding quickly and effectively.

And when the Mayor told me that story it was, I think, an example of what’s happening all across this Gulf Coast. And it’s going to be multiplied not just in Louisiana, but in Alabama, in Mississippi, in Florida. There are small communities like this all across the Gulf and they’ve got to make sure that their voice is being heard day in, day out.

And I know that they’ve got a fierce advocate in Thad Allen. But I wanted you to know that behind Thad Allen stands the President of the United States.

MAYOR CAMARDELLE: And like I said, since the last time you’ve been here, the Coast Guard is unbelievable. Admiral, I want you to know that. You guys are really working 24 hours for us. And you did push BP. And, like I said, I'm very emotional because I'm still giving -- I'm not going to cut the water off, I'm not going to cut the electricity off, and I'm not going to cut the gas off. I have one of the businesses right now that has a $5,200 electricity bill, and I'm calling energy to make sure not to cut him off.

When these businesspeople come up to you and say it’s time to help, it’s not easy. And Patti can tell you -- the night before last I told her that I'm going to keep you strong, I'm going the try to bring you more business. Butch calls me, telling me we need more boats, get some vessel of opportunities. He’s fighting to save his oysters. I'm trying to keep Grand Isle alive, to try to get tours. I opened the beach Memorial Sunday at 3:00 p.m. -- people were calling me. So the marinas can sell a towel so these young kids can lay on the beach.

And watching oil come across the shore -- some people think I'm better than God, you know. That's how serious this is. And they’ll tell you, I live right down the street. I've been averaging two hours of sleep, just going in and looking at the ceiling fan and wondering what’s going to happen tomorrow, and praying to God that no more oil comes on the beach.

So, like Terry said earlier, his wife is sick. I bring seven people a day to -- New Orleans in a van, to cross that long bridge you crossed, and putting gas in the truck to make sure that we can keep the help. And we help each other. And we don't have no money, don't matter. We help each other. That's what we do.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's supposed to be what the entire United States does, is helping each other.

MAYOR CAMARDELLE: Exactly.

TERRY VEGAS: We're not bitter at the oil companies for what’s happening. We're just bitter at those that cut the corners and cause the havoc that we're having right now.

VOICE: It’s not getting cleaned up fast enough.

VOICE: -- the oil company down here and we enjoy the business. We support them.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think the point with the oil companies is they’ve got to support you the same way you support them. And they’ve got to make sure that -- because there are a lot of folks in the oil business who do the right thing and who aren’t cutting corners. We've just got to make sure that we find out what happened and that those who are responsible are held responsible; that we fix whatever is wrong. We're still going to need the oil production, but we've got to make sure that we do it in the right way, because we just can't have a situation like this happen again.

VOICE: Can't have that happen all the time,, no.

VOICE: Have to follow the rules.

VOICE: Just tell the truth.

VOICE: From day one they lied to us -- BP. They said 1,000 barrels a day, then said it’s 2,000 -- put the tube in there, it was 5,000 -- now it’s up to 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day. Just tell the people the truth, you know. That's all we want.

MAYOR CAMARDELLE: Like I said, the biggest shrimp dock in America is right here in Grand Isle. It’s Blanche’s Seafood. And he’s completely shut down. They’ll tell you, the boats are tied up. How many boats does he have right now -- about 100, close to 100 boats just tied up. And you’ve got the Vietnamese families, you’ve got the true Cajun people here, and they’re just sitting on the deck of the boat and just waiting on the vessel of opportunity.

And I want to respect the Admiral and BP, where they try. It’s just since you left, they’ve made a big change. Since you came to me, you made a big change and we support you for that. But we just worry. You hear us here and we worry. And we don't know what’s going to happen tomorrow. And that's why we depend on you -- both of you guys -- to make sure that -- and you heard them today. We don't want to be on food stamps -- none of my people -- we want to just untie the boat, be able to see your two daughters right here and kiss them in the evening and Daddy’s going to work.

END

The New York Times: “Obama Cancels Asia Trip as Concern on Spill Mounts.”

The Washington Post: "President Obama has once again postponed his trip to Indonesia and Australia, telephoning the leaders of the two countries late Thursday night, the White House said. It is the second time the trip has been canceled. It was originally planned for March but was put off because the president wanted to be in Washington for a critical health-care vote in Congress. Now, the president needs to stay in Washington to oversee the worsening environmental crisis from the oil spill off the Gulf Coast.

On Larry King Live last night, the president “said he is ‘furious at [the] entire situation’ surrounding the BP oil spill but that his anger will not stop the leak,” The Hill writes.

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“U.S. officials took a hopeful and cautious outlook late Thursday after BP robotic craft wrestled a cap onto the jagged end of a blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico in the latest attempt to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history,” msnbc.com writes. “Live video provided by BP showed dramatic scenes of the cap being lifted into place and dark clouds of oil billowing out from between it and the sawed-off pipe, 5,000 feet below the Gulf's surface. The gushing oil made it very difficult to tell if the cap was fitting well. BP officials did not immediately return requests for comment.”

The New York Times: “White House Talk Lightens Tone of Dispute on Immigration Law.”

Remember health care? The New York Times: “Health Insurers and the Administration Find They Need Each Other.”

The Washington Post: “Beneath its commitment to soft-spoken diplomacy and beyond the combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Obama administration has significantly expanded a largely secret U.S. war against al-Qaeda and other radical groups, according to senior military and administration officials.”

“Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered the military and the Pentagon’s civilian bureaucracy to find tens of billions of dollars in annual savings to pay for war-fighting operations, senior officials said Thursday,” the New York Times reports. “His goal is $7 billion in spending cuts and efficiencies for 2012, growing to $37 billion annually by 2016.”

AP: “Secret Service officers have subdued two men who refused to get out of the street as President Barack Obama's motorcade was returning to the White House. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says Obama was returning Thursday night from a school event for one of his daughters when the men refused to move out of the way of the presidential motorcade. A uniformed Secret Service officer was seen lying on top of one man and another officer wrestled with the second man. Donovan says the men, who were using profanity, were charged with assaulting a police officer and failure to obey a lawful order. He didn't have their identities. Donovan says the incident appeared to be a random event and not an organized attempt to block the president's motorcade.”

Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement of a criminal and civil investigation into the oil spill “follows calls by numerous lawmakers -- including some of Capitol Hill’s toughest oil industry critics -- for criminal inquiries,” The Hill writes. “In a letter sent last month, eight members of the Environment and Public Works Committee asked Holder to probe whether BP made ‘false and misleading statements to the federal government regarding its ability to respond to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.’”

“Oil from BP's out-of-control Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, forecasters said yesterday, as public anger surged over the country's worst environmental disaster ever,” the New York Post writes.

“BP's engineers can't stop the gushing oil spill, but a young genius from Long Island says she found the solution in less time than it takes most people to finish a crossword puzzle,” the New York Post writes. “[She] proposes surrounding a pipe with deflated automobile tires, inserting it into the leaking riser, and then inflating the wheels to form a seal,” and calls it the “seabed reatread.”

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The Daily News has a grisly account of “what President Obama didn't see when he visited the Gulf Coast: a dead dolphin rotting in the shore weeds.”

“The Obama administration ignored international pressure to condemn Israel on Tuesday, backing the Jewish state's Gaza blockade and its right to protect itself,” the Daily News writes.

“A plurality of Americans said they would prefer Republicans to leave the new healthcare law alone and not repeal any parts of it” according to a new “60 Minutes”/Vanity Fair poll, The Hill reports.

“President Barack Obama may use Congress’ Memorial Day break to use recess appointments to install a handful of pending nominees,” Roll Call writes.