Members of Congress were frustrated when BP's CEO testified Thursday about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.  President Obama on Wednesday won a commitment from BP to set aside $20 billion to cover cleanup costs. The Senate voted to preserve lucrative tax breaks for Big Oil. Senators on Tuesday shot down an amendment by Senator Bernie Sanders in a vote widely seen as a signal that Congress is unlikely, even in the wake of the gulf disaster, to make any serious headway on reforming energy policies. While the environmental catastrophe was in the headlines, Senate Republicans blocked efforts to deal with the economic disaster. They voted against extending aid to the unemployed despite the highest rate of long-term joblessness since the 1930s.

Gulf Oil Spill Testifying before angry members of Congress, BP chief Tony Hayward said Thursday that he was "deeply sorry" for the oil spill that continues to turn the Gulf of Mexico into a cesspool. He pledged that "we will make this right." A day earlier, BP agreed to set aside $20 billion for economic and environmental damage to the region.  Sanders, a member of the Senate energy committee, applauded the Obama administration for convincing BP to set up the fund. That he called "an important step forward." He added that more still has to be done. "As part of the overall energy debate taking place in the Senate, I am working on legislation that would substantially transform our energy system - moving us away from fossil fuels and offshore drilling to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.  If we do that, we can create millions of new jobs. My strong hope is that as part of that process Vermont becomes the nation's leader."

Big Oil The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposal to repeal $35 billion in oil and gas industry tax breaks. The Sanders Amendment would have devoted $25 billion of the savings to deficit reduction. "We have record-breaking deficits" Sanders said on the Senate floor. "We have a $13 trillion national debt and Exxon Mobil receives $156 million in a tax refund after making $19 billion in profit. Mr. President, this has got to stop." His amendment also would have devoted $10 billion over 10 years to an Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant Program, a Sanders proposal created by the 2007 energy bill.  The vote on Sanders' amendment was 35 to 61. Twenty-two Democrats voted against the repeal, going against the wishes of the White House. To read ABC News coverage of the debate, click here.

Global Warming A Senate energy bill faces bleak prospects despite President Obama's call during an Oval Office address on Tuesday for a clean energy future.  Senators on Thursday met to talk about how to move forward on energy legislation. There was little progress despite Obama's assertion that the Gulf oil spill underscores the need to reduce the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.  Sanders lamented that there are not 60 votes in the Senate for strong climate legislation. "I think it's a tragedy, but that's the way it is," he told reporters. "Why they are rejecting scientific views...when the future of the planet is at stake I just don't understand."

Jobs The Senate on Thursday rejected a slimmed-down package of jobless benefits and state aid. A Republican filibuster stopped consideration of the bill. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that 31 states posted unemployment rate increases from a year earlier, 17 states recorded decreases, and 2 states had no change. The national jobless rate edged down by 0.2 percentage points to 9.7 percent, but was up from 9.4 percent in May 2009. In Vermont, the jobless rate fell in May to 6.2 percent from 6.4 percent. While Vermont has not experienced the worst of the recession, chronic long-term unemployment is a problem for thousand who have been unemployed for six months or more. To read more about it in the latest edition of The Vermont Bernie Buzz, click here.

The Fed House and Senate negotiators agreed Thursday to broaden the scope of a new set of audits of the Federal Reserve by the Government Accountability Office. Sanders authored the provision in the Senate bill that requires a top-to-bottom audit of Fed actions during the recession.  His language also would make the Fed divulge the names of banks that took more than $2 trillion in low-interest or zero-interest loans. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has adamantly refused to make that information public.