WASHINGTON — Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken joined most of their Democratic colleagues in demanding that BP create a $20 billion fund for clean-up and environmental damage repair from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The letter, sent late last week, sets the tone for a monumental week for both the oil giant and lawmakers. BP will be the focus of several hearings on Capitol Hill and the subject of an Oval Office statement from President Obama Tuesday evening.

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Washington, D.C. — Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) today (Monday, June 14) advocated that the Restore Integrity To Credit Ratings amendment (S.A.3991) be included in the final Wall Street Reform package.

The group of senators includes the author of the credit rating amendment, the first bipartisan co-sponsor, and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman who lead the investigation into the conflicts of interest in Wall Street’s credit rating system.

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Senator Al Franken is a man who hardly needs, but certainly deserves, an introduction. Franken’s start in politics was purely satirical: After graduating with honors from Harvard, Franken moved to New York and joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, where he wrote and performed for fifteen years. As the years went on, he continued combining comedy and politics, writing several books including Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, and the New York Times bestseller Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.

In 2004, Franken launched his radio show, The Al Franken Show, on Air America. The show, which ran for three years, was inspired by Franken’s belief in the power of talk radio and his concern that the talk radio airwaves were dominated by conservative commentators. The Al Franken Show ran for almost three years, with Franken broadcasting for three hours a day, five days a week. On the final episode, in 2007, he announced his candidacy for the US Senate.

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WASHINGTON – In a heavily party-line vote, the U.S. Senate voted Thursday against approving a controversial amendment to the Clean Air Act that would have restricted the Environmental Protection Agency’s action on regulating greenhouse gases and would have overturned scientific findings on the gases’ potential danger.

The measure, sponsored by Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, failed by a 53-47 vote.

Minnesota Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar and North Dakota Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad, all Democrats, each voted in opposition to the bill.

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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–U.S. Senators called for stronger safety measures in the oil and gas industry in the wake of a series of accidents in recent months in a hearing Thursday morning.

Senator Patty Murray (D., Wash.) said that repeated violations particularly at refineries and the incident rate of accidents in the oil and gas industry mean that greater oversight is needed. “We cannot assume someone else is taking care of things,” she said.

The Senate Committee on Health Education Labor & Pensions held a hearing on process safety management in the oil and gas industry.

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Senator Al Franken says it’s time for a new energy policy in Washington. Franken made the statement today while talking with News 12. He says officials in the Interior Department were too cozy with big oil, which is a problem leading up to the B-P explosion and oil spill. Now he says Congress must determine if the Obama administration is doing enough to change that. He also says the way forward for America is to follow Minnesota’s lead. Franken says, ”Because you don’t see ethanol spills. You don’t hear about wind turbines blowing up and killing eleven people. That’s one thing that we are going to be working on.”

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Sen. Al Franken grilled oil industry executives on Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The Minnesota Democrat asked Jack Coleman, a managing partner for EnergyNorthAmerica, LLC, if he would support a moratorium on drilling following the BP disaster. Coleman said he wouldn’t, not even to prevent the BP disaster.

“In retrospect, you would not have stopped that drilling? I’m asking if 8 weeks ago you would have stopped that drilling?” asked Franken.

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WASHINGTON — Maj. Gen. Larry Shellito’s decision to retire from his post as adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard prompted warm words from Washington today.

Shellito, who joined the Guard in 1973, will retire effective Oct. 31 at the end of his seven-year term of office. Gov. Tim Pawlenty said today he will name a replacement by August.

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Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) took aim at the Comcast/NBCU merger in a Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing Wednesday on antitrust enforcement and a top Justice official promised the department would not rely on any stakeholders’ promises when vetting a merger.

During his questioning of assistant attorney general for antitrust Christine Varney, Franken focused entirely on that merger and what he said was his “inherent distrust of NBC and Comcast’s promises.”

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June 9 (Reuters) – U.S. regulators will either challenge or allow Comcast’s proposed takeover of NBC Universal on the evidence, U.S. Justice Department antitrust chief Christine Varney said on Wednesday.

Asked about the deal by Senator Al Franken, who expressed concern about loss of independent programming and higher cable bills because of consolidation in the sector, Varney said that it would be looked at thoroughly and a court would make any remedies binding.

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