Paul emphasized that he wants BP to pay for all the damage, but said he was wary of government pressure.

Michael Bromwich, head of the Interior Department agency overseeing offshore drilling, called it "vital" to probe allegations of misconduct there.

President Barack Obama will meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron on the BP oil spill on Saturday, according to CNN.

The two leaders will meet in Canada during the G-20 summit. Obama and Cameron spoke on the telephone earlier this month about the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The meeting comes on the heels of Obama's conclave with BP executives last week, after which he announced the creation of a $20 billion escrow fund paid for by the company to fund claims related to the spill.

Members of Congress have debated the fund; many have supported it, but some Republicans have said it is a fleecing of BP — most notably, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas).

Rep. Joe Barton will keep his spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee after apologizing to BP.

The Interior Secretary under the microscope on Capitol Hill

“Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who promised to be the ‘new sheriff in town’ when he took over the agency that regulates offshore drilling, faces increased scrutiny of his leadership before the explosion at a BP Plc well set off the worst U.S. oil spill,” Bloomberg reports.

“’The pace of reform was just too slow’ in Salazar’s efforts to root out corruption and reverse ‘a philosophy that says corporations should be allowed to play by their own rules and police themselves,’ President Barack Obama said in a speech from the Oval Office last week. It was the president’s most critical public comment on Salazar’s performance,” the story continues.

A federal judge undercut a central part of the administration’s response to the Gulf oil spill with the ruling.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday said he will soon issue a new order that freezes deepwater oil-and-gas drilling in response to a federal judge’s decision to block the existing ban.

A federal judge on Tuesday issued an injunction against the six-month deepwater drilling ban that Salazar imposed in late May in response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Salazar, in a prepared statement, said he would “issue a new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities.”

The Justice Department is also appealing the ruling Tuesday by Judge Martin Feldman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday accused the Obama administration of exploiting the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to seek political traction for taxes on petroleum companies.

The comments by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) come a day after the U.S. EPA called for reinstatement of lapsed taxes on oil companies and chemical makers used to fund hazardous waste site cleanups through the federal Superfund program.

Inhofe, speaking at a hearing on Superfund, said the administration's support for reviving the taxes was muted until the Gulf oil spill.

“The spill has changed that,” Inhofe said. “Now they feel the political climate is right to tax oil and gas companies.”



A White House official said the Wednesday meeting was postponed for scheduling reasons and would take place early next week.