Obama says administration in charge of spill cleanup

WASHINGTON - On the defensive more than five weeks into what new government estimates say is the nation's worst-ever oil spill, President Barack Obama insisted Thursday that his administration, not oil giant BP, was calling the shots in the still-unsuccessful response.

"I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down," Obama declared at a news conference in the East Room of the White House. Obama announced new steps to deal with the aftermath of the spill, including continuing a moratorium on drilling permits for six months. He also said he was suspending planned exploration drilling off the coasts of Alaska and Virginia and on 33 wells under way in the Gulf of Mexico.

The president's direct language on being in charge of the spill response, which he repeated several times, marked a change in emphasis from earlier administration assertions that, while the government was overseeing the operation, BP had the expertise and equipment to make the decisions on how to stop the flow.

BP Wednesday suspended shooting heavy drilling mud into the blown-out well 5,000 feet underwater so it could assess how the effort was working and bring in more materials.

Last night, the company said it had resumed the pumping procedure, but noted it could be late Friday or the weekend before the company knows if it has cut off the oil.

"The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort," Obama said Thursday.

But, he acknowledged a "sense of complacency on the government's part in planning how to deal with the worst-case scenario" before it happened. He said a cozy relationship between industry and government didn't change when he came into office.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar "came in and started cleaning house. But the culture had not fully changed at MMS. And surely I take responsibility for that." But, he added, "there is no evidence some of the corrupt practices that took place earlier took place under the present administration's watch."

Before Obama spoke, the head of the troubled agency that oversees offshore drilling, Minerals Management Services Director Elizabeth Birnbaum, resigned under pressure.