From The Washington Post:
The White House wouldn't say how much money it wants BP to put in the new escrow account, but Senate Democrats named their number Sunday, sending aletter to BP asking it to create a $20 billion fund to handle economic damages and cleanup costs.
BP did not reject the demands out of hand, and it took pains to avoid anything resembling a confrontational posture as it prepares for Wednesday's session.
Behind the scenes, the situation is much tenser. The administration, under immense political pressure to show that it's fully in charge, is pressing BP to fully clean up the mess both environmentally and economically. BP, however, fears any plan going forward that would create a potentially unlimited liability. [read more]
There is so much blame to go around that it seems the first order of business is not fixing the blame, but fixing the problem. Then the lawyers can determine who didn't do what, who prevented whom from doing what, and who should pay whom for what.