Obama vows to stand by families of oil spill victims

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Thursday consoled relatives of the 11 workers killed in the Gulf oil spill disaster, acknowledging their "unimaginable grief" and personally assuring the families he will stand with them.

One man who lost a son asked Obama to support efforts to update federal law limiting the amount of money the families can collect.

"He told us we weren't going to be forgotten," said Keith Jones, of Baton Rouge, La. "He just wanted us to know this wasn't going to leave his mind and his heart." Jones' 28-year-old son, Gordon, was working on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig leased by BP PLC when it exploded April 20 and then sank in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and creating one of Obama's biggest challenges as president.

The younger Jones, who inspected mud that was pumped up from the deep-sea well, left behind a wife, Michelle, and sons, a 2-year-old and a month-old baby. Obama held the baby, Maxwell Gordon. "He said he hadn't done that in nine years, held a baby that size," Keith Jones told reporters afterward.

Amid the grandeur of the Red Room and the adjacent State Dining Room, Obama addressed the grieving families as a group before he worked his way around the rooms, taking as much time as needed to console each family, Keith Jones said.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs released a brief statement afterward that said Obama expressed his condolences and told the families that he, first lady Michelle Obama and the entire administration are "behind them and will be there long after the cameras are gone as they go through their unimaginable grief."

Keith Jones said he and another son, Chris, asked Obama to support changing the Death on the High Seas Act, a 90-year-old law that limits liability for wrongful deaths more than three miles offshore. He said the law is unfair and "not in keeping with the way we do things now." Obama promised to look into the matter, Keith Jones said.

Gibbs had told reporters earlier yesterday that Obama would tell the families that he'll work with Congress to address disparities in the law and to make sure that the families receive due compensation.

Jones is among four families that have sued Transocean Ltd., the rig's owner, as well as BP and other companies involved in its operation. The cases seek unspecified damages and are pending in federal courts in Houston and New Orleans.

Also Thursday, Democratic congressional leaders stepped up the pressure on BP to fully compensate economic victims of the spill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "every taxpayer in America must know that BP will be held accountable for what is owed." She spoke at the White House after Obama met with congressional leaders of both parties.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky agreed BP has to "clean up the spill." But he says Democratic lawmakers shouldn't use the tragedy to try to build support for an energy bill.