Gulf Oil Spill Hearing, Representative | featured news

GOP lawmaker says he's "ashamed" of how firm has been treated, drawing immediate criticism. Under pressure from Republican leaders who threatened to remove him from a ranking committee position, Rep Joe Barton (R-Tex.) late Thursday retracted his apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the way his company has been treated by the US government -- a comment that had drawn heavy criticism from both parties.

Rep. Henry Waxman says that his committee’s investigation into the Gulf oil spill reveals that a key safety device, the blowout preventer, had a leak in a crucial hydraulic system.