The Week Ahead: BP CEO on Capitol Hill

As he struggles to show command of the federal government’s response to the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, President Barack Obama makes a two-day visit to the Gulf Coast to monitor the effects of the spill and efforts to clean it up.

Meanwhile, congressional lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill continue to hold hearings galore into the BP spill — something House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week mocked as “Congress at its best,” as millions of barrels of oil continue to leak.

Five Big Oil chief executives will testify on Tuesday. BP CEO Tony Hayward is expected to be at the White House on Wednesday and on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

The Senate continues — and hopes to finish — its work on the so-called tax extenders bill, with a final vote expected later in the week. Democratic leaders, who will need at least one Republican to cross over, say they have the votes to pass it.

Monday, June 14

-- Obama begins a two-day trip during which he visits Gulfport, Miss.; Theodore, Ala.; and Pensacola, Fla., to oversee containment and cleanup efforts. This is the third time he has visited the Gulf Coast region since May 28.

-- Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and a panel of experts participate in a Center for American Progress forum called “America Over a Barrel.” The event, which explores the consequences of the U.S. dependence on oil, runs from 9:30 to 11 a.m.

-- The American Enterprise Institute holds an event from 2 to 4 p.m. on ways to prevent the next housing bubble. Panelists include Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Jay Brinkmann of the Mortgage Bankers Association and Mark Zandi of Moody’s.

-- Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) talks about his new book, Teaching the Pig to Dance: A Memoir of Growing Up and Second Chances, at 6:30 p.m. at the National Press Club.

Tuesday, June 15

-- Remember when tobacco industry executives testified under oath on Capitol Hill in 1994 that nicotine wasn’t addictive? Now it’s oil chiefs’ turn to take to the witness table. Among those testifying at a 9:30 a.m. hearing of a House Energy and Commerce Committee subpanel: BP’s Lamar McKay, Exxon Mobil’s Rex Tillerson, Chevron’s John Watson, ConocoPhillips’s James Mulva and Shell’s Marvin Odum.

-- Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. Central Command, is a witness at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Afghanistan. It begins at 9:30 a.m.

-- The conference committee reconciling the House and Senate versions of Wall Street reform meets at 11 a.m. for the second time. The inaugural session last week quickly descended into partisan bickering — a “rocky start,” as Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) put it.

-- After introducing a bipartisan cybersecurity bill last week to protect against a “cyber 9/11,” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) holds a 2:30 p.m. hearing in his Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on “cyberspace as a national asset.”

-- The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holds a 2:30 p.m. hearing on the health impacts of the Gulf oil spill.

-- The Hill hosts a breakfast briefing with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Visa head of Corporate Relations Doug Michelman and Nebraska state Treasurer Shane Osborn on improving government efficiency and accountability and the role of digital currency in government savings. The breakfast starts at 8:30 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency.

Wednesday, June 16

-- Senior officials with BP, including Chairman of the Board Carl-Henric Svanberg, will meet at the White House with Obama, at the invitation of Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government’s point man on the Gulf spill response.

-- Obama addresses the American Nurses Association.

-- The House Homeland Security panel hears testimony at 10 a.m. on the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity efforts, with DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner expected as a witness.

-- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) hold a ceremony to unveil plaques that recognize the contributions enslaved African-Americans made to the construction of the Capitol. The event starts at 3 p.m.

Thursday, June 17

-- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify at 9:30 a.m. on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

-- A House Natural Resources subcommittee meets at 10 a.m. on the effectiveness of regulations by the Minerals Management Service, the Interior Department agency that oversees offshore drilling.

-- BP’s Hayward will testify at 10 a.m. before the Oversight subpanel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

This post initially contained incorrect information about the Wednesday House Homeland Security hearing. It has been updated.

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