Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will discuss the state of the economy next week on Capitol Hill. 

Bernanke will appear before the House Budget Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to an announcement by the panel Thursday.  

On Monday, off the Hill, the Fed chairman will be interviewed by former ABC newsman Sam Donaldson, president of the Wilson Council, at the Woodrow Wilson Center Board and Council dinner in Washington. 

In an effort to slow the spread of the oil spill to the shoreline, BP will pay the estimated $360 million for the federal government's barrier island proposal. 

U.S. government officials are planning the construction of six sections of the Louisiana barrier island proposal and BP will make payments in stages as the project progresses, but "will not manage or contract directly for the construction of the island sections, nor will the company assume any liability for unintended consequences of the project," BP said in a release. 

"BP is committed to implementing the most effective measures to protect the coastline of Louisiana and reduce the impact of the oil and gas spill in the Gulf of Mexico," BP CEO Tony Hayward said in a release. "The federal government and the state of Louisiana have agreed that the barrier islands construction is an effective response to the spill and we look forward to working with them on this project." 

BP has paid $170 million to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida for response costs and to promote tourism. The company has paid about $42 million in compensation to those affected by the spill, according to the release. 

The cost of the oil spill is nearing, and may surpass, $1 billion. BP reported spending $960 million in the latest figures released earlier this week.

States across the country are facing their toughest fiscal situation since the Great Depression.

Opposition to taxing soft drinks and fast food is strongest in the South.

Applications for unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 last week suggesting businesses are still trimming staff despite an improving economy. 

Initial weekly jobless claims dropped to 453,000, 26 percent below last year's figures but still above what's considered a strong hiring trend, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Last week's figure was revised up to 463,000. Economists estimate that to make a dent in unemployment, jobless claims need to run below 400,000. 

The Treasury Department on Thursday announced that warrants for common stock in First Financial Bancorp are priced at $6.70. The Department expects to raise approximately $2.9 million by publicly offering 465,117 warrants in the company.

U.S. and British officials are expected to urge Europe to perform bank stress tests as a way to calm concerned investors and restore confidence worldwide.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected, along with others, to push for a more public disclosure of strong and weak banks in Europe that could help calm worries during a meeting of finance leaders from the Group of 20 in Busan, South Korea, over the next couple of days. 

"I think the Europeans have laid out a very strong, very comprehensive program of policy reforms and financial support to help the countries of Europe manage through these tensions and pressures," Geithner told reporters Wednesday. "I do think there's a very good case for trying to bring more transparency and disclosure to these markets and to major institutions. And I think there's broad support in Europe for doing that, again, because it reflects basic reality — uncertainty has a price."

White House spokesman Bill Burton agreed earlier Wednesday, saying, "the United States is confident that European leaders have been doing the right thing by putting in place reforms that help to keep their financial institutions strong and help to shore up their own economies." 

British Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban went as far as demanding today that eurozone banks undergo stress tests. 

"A genuine, rigorous stress-testing exercise is urgently needed to answer questions around solvency in severe market conditions," Hoban said in Brussels. 

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should force Congress to provide more tax incentives to spur clean energy development while also cutting back billions in tax breaks for oil companies. 

President Barack Obama pushed for accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy by "rolling back billions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development," during a speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.  

He urged Congress to look again at energy legislation that would set up a cap-and-trade system, requiring companies to purchase carbon pollution credits as they gradually change over to cleaner ways of manufacturing. 

"The only way the transition to clean energy will succeed is if the private sector is fully invested in this future — if capital comes off the sidelines and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs is unleashed," he said. "And the only way to do that is by finally putting a price on carbon pollution."

He acknowledged that it also "means tapping into our natural gas reserves and moving ahead with our plan to expand our nation's fleet of nuclear power plants."

Obama had proposed an offshore oil-drilling plan but made clear on Wednesday that oil production can only be pursued if it's "safe and only if it's used as a short-term solution while we transition to a clean energy economy."

Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said the anti-tax pledge conflicts with duty to deal with deficit.