Congressional Calendar May 4, 2010

The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico spreads to Capitol Hill Tuesday as legislators hear from BP officials at 2:00p on their efforts to stop the ongoing environmental disaster. Fox News will be there live to get their comments and reaction from Congress. Members will also take steps to mitigate the effects of the next oil spill.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) plans to introduce legislation at an 11:00a press conference to increase the cap on liabilities from oil spill damages from $75 million to $10 billion.  Current law states that oil companies must pay the whole cost of cleaning up the oil spill, but have a limit to the damages they pay to businesses and property owners in the affected area.  While the bill is too late for the citizens of the Gulf Coast, it may help the victims of an environmental accident in the future.

Debate continues on the financial regulatory overhaul bill in the Senate Tuesday. Senators will begin to introduce amendments to the original language cleared through the Senate Banking Committee. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduces an amendment to prevent institutions from becoming too big to fail at 2:30p. The amendment would require institutions that are deemed too big to fail to divest certain businesses to reduce overall risk.

Two Senate committees also discuss changes to the financial system with high profile witnesses from the Obama administration. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner meets with the Senate Finance committee at 10:00a to discuss a proposed fee on large financial institutions, which is commonly referred to as the bank tax. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs will hear testimony from the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny Breuer on whether jail time can serve as a deterrent to willful Wall Street fraudsters. We expect Breuer to get plenty of questions about the ongoing criminal investigation of the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

In other economic news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will convene an economic forum at 9:00a to discuss the state of the American economy and ways to create jobs.

It looks to be a full day on the Capitol Hill schedule, and our team is going to work hard to break these stories wide open, so stay tuned to Fox News for the latest…