Obama Pushes BP on Claims

President Obama will press BP executives this week to create a third-party escrow account and claims process in order to ensure that taxpayers will not cover the costs of the oil-spill cleanup effort. The White House, under increasing pressure to show decisive leadership in the oil-spill fiasco, is said to be exasperated with BP's handling of the crisis and seeks to set up an independent panel to pay damage claims in a "fair, efficient, and transparent" way. "We're very concerned about the claims process. This is not the core function of an oil-producing company," Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday. Several Gulf Coast governors have called for BP to not only cover the costs of cleaning up the nation's worst environmental calamity, but also to shoulder secondary costs, such as lost revenue from tourism. Obama is set to address the nation Tuesday night, laying out plans for the next steps of the environmental response. "I do not want to see BP nickel-and-diming these businesses that are having a very rough time," Obama said to his Cabinet last week.