he was the longest serving member in congress with more than a half century just in the u.s. senate. we'll take a closer look at his remarkable career. dana bash is joining us from the hill and interviewed him a number of times. dana? >> reporter: that's right, kyra. the statements are pouring in from senators on both sides of the aisle. he was certainly not only embodying the senate, that's a fair thing to say, he loved the united states senate. he was the longest serve membering of the united states senate. to give you one example of the statements we are getting. the current senator majority leader harry reid said robert byrd was one of the great minds the world has ever seen. he served here in the senate alongside of 13, if 8] en dwooid eisenhower was in the white house. he loved the history and tradition of the nat senate. he was unofficial keeper of the rules. you often saw him on the senate floor during his hay day whipping out the u.s. constitution he kept in his breast pocket. he always talked about the fact it was the legislative branch named before the executive branch, before the president. he tried to keep control of the legislative branch as much as he possibly could. when he was talking and quoting greek philosophers, this is a man who was self-educated. he came from a very, very poor upbringing. on that note, he also is somebody who very proudly used his position to send millions and millions of dollars back to his home state of west virginia throughout his long career. it is something the whole concept of pork-barrel spending has begun dirty word, but he never thought so. he said he was proud of it. something i talked to him about back in 2006. you have gotten the label, the king of pork, but you wear that as a badge of honor, don't you? >> i do. i'm here to represent the people of west virginia. and they want me to serve them. by state has been a landlocked state, a poverty-widen ridden state. my memory is as good as it ever was, and it is stock full of recollections about the poor people of west virginia. how they were laughed at, they were a laughing stock. yes, i'm a hillbilly. proud of it. but i knew what the people of west virginia sent me to washington for. they sent me to washington to represent them. >> reporter: he certainly did represent them for more than half a decade. interestingly enough, kyra, he talked about his upbringing. back in 1964 he waged the longest filibuster of his life, more than 14 hours and 13 minutes. it was against the civil rights act of 1964. and we also probably should mention that briefly, briefly as a young man in west virginia, he was a member of the kuklux klan would be in his obituary and the greatest mistake of his life, but on this morning, everybody around here in a bipartisan way is mourning the man that, i think, senators revered for his knowledge of the institution of the united states senate. >> dana, before we let you go, we want to take a second where you are this morning. you are just outside the room where the confirmation hearings for elena kagan will take place today. >> reporter: that's right. speaking of, robert byrd would be the first to say this is evidence of how important this body is, because it is this body in this room behind me where senators will begin confirmation hearings for elena kagan. next hour, i'm going down to the floor to give you a behind-the-scenes look of where she is going to sit and the senator she'll be facing. people think at the end of the day she'll be okay, but not before a good drilling from the senators over the next few days. >> we look toward to that. thank you. as dana just told us, confirmation hearings begin in a few hours for president obama's latest nominee. elena kagan will face tough questions. some republicans say she was too political when working in the clinton administration. they also point out that she's never been a judge. kagan is president obama's second nominee to the nation's highest court. the first sew toe mayor was confirmed last august. the hearings are sure to be contentious. we'll look at the issues likely to dominate the proceedings. josh levs is joining us now with a preview. josh? >> hey, kyra. we know elena kagan has support on capitol hill, and she has detractors as well. the hearings are largely dictated by the critics out there who have issues they want to raise. we have a taste of what's to come this morning from the lawmakers. >> she has the least experience of any nominee in 50 years. she was a clinton operative for quite a number of years. the point person on efforts to restrict gun rights. the point person on blocking partial birth abortion. and harvard, she barred the military from the recruiting offices. in her legal brief rejected 8-0 in the supreme court, there are a number of things for us and any american to be concerned she would be an activist judge. >> all right. let me touch on a few issues now. let me show you where you can find information. one of the things is military recruiting. during her time at harvard, she launched efforts over don't ask, don't tell. she also supported schools in their efforts to combat a federal law that basically was pushing them to allow military recruiting or losing federal funding. abortion is an interesting one, there's in the a lot in her professional background, but we may be hearing about this. these, quote, avengers of innocent life. later in the clinton white house, she took what a lot of her supporters say is a pragmatic approach in the issue of late-term abortions. they point to documents recently released. we'll look at what happens to that. also, campaign finance reform is an instance where she argued before the supreme court. she ultimately lost the battle, but she launched the efforts before the supreme court defending the government restrictions on a corporate refinancing in campaigns. this is a good involvement with the supreme court arguing. this is a handful of cnn.com slash politics. >> steering wheel we'll have the confirmation hearings here live at noon eastern. four people are injured after a suspected tornado touched down in a michigan campground. it happened last night in clyde downto township. plenty of trailers were ripped apart. the officials can't confirm if indeed it was a tornado. eyewitnesss disagree. >> my dad came up and said you could actually see the tornado coming down and going up. he actually seen the spinning. >> i went out to the west window and looked that way. i saw a funnel cloud coming down on top of the hill over there. >> well, the national weather service will determine if it was indeed a tornado or straight-line wind. by the way, another reported tornado was sited in wayne county, michigan. reynolds wolf is joining us with the bigger picture. what do we have? >> a better day in southern michigan. we had a frontal boundary that drifted along the great lakes. with that, the strong storms. we had, of course, thunderstorms. and we had the tornadoes reported in the area. what we can anticipate today is the frontal boundary driving to the area near maine. in the afternoon, things will heat up. the atmosphere destabilizes and things will get interesting. be prepared for delays if you are traveling. if you are traveling in the gulf of mexico, all eyes are on the system now leaving the yucatan peninsula back over open water. we have a couple things to contend with. very warm conditions out in the gulf with the chance for the strength to stroointen. also, we are confident the storm is going to strengthen. we are confident the storm is going to continue on the northwesterly trajectory. with that in mind, we turn to the latest forecast from the national hurricane center. look at the numbers going up with 100 miles an hour sustained. then wednesday and thursday, wind near 110 an hour with gusts to 35. in terms of where this thing is going to go. where will it landfall? we do not know at this point. the storm here, we are not sure what to anticipate in the next 48 to 72 hours. it was back in 2005 there was a storm by the name of charlie. again, that was back in 2005. all signs are pointing to that storm possibly making landfall right in to tampa bay, but that's not what happened. what did happen is the storm made its way and made a dieing a nol corner. when you have these storms, be ready for the up expected. that's something to watch very carefully with this particular storm. the first named storm of the 2010 atlantic hurricane season. back over to you. >> thank you, reynolds. tropical storm alex is definitely a concern for eel cleanup efforts in the gulf. the oil recovery efforts should be shut down for two weeks if a hurricane or tropical storm did move in. for the first time, tar balls have washed up on the mississippi shores. cleanup cries have been dplied so far. bp says it spent $62 pl on the money response. that contains relief well drilling and paying claims. thousands of workers are out of pay and money after the temporary drilling ban. they are hoping to recover from fund for the losses. hey, chris. >> reporter: yeah, when you were down here, you saw a lot of the anger. people just furious at the federal government for imposing this six-month ban on the deepwater drilling. now, some people say, look, they don't even have a plan to clean up this spill. how can we let them go back to drilling again. others were arguing that it is safe. the oil rig workers themselves are covered by a $100 million fine from bp, they are all right. but the loaders, the caters, the support jobs, they have no way to recoup their losses. we took these concerns to ken feinberg on how to clean up the claims process. will you be handling any claims at all for people whose businesses have been affected by the moratorium? >> yes. i now have discoffered, discovered, i didn't read this until yesterday, but those claims will fall under my jurisdiction. >> that's a huge development. we didn't know that before. >> i didn't either. i just learned yesterday that the administration and bp have agreed that the moratorium claims will fall under my jurisdiction. >> reporter: you may want to tell a doctor what pay tisht patients he will be operating on. this is something that bp did not agree to early on. they took responsibility for the oil spill itself, but the moratorium was something imposed by the federal government. those workers were falling under a different jurisdiction for a while. this is not going to cure all their problems, but it at least gives them somewhere to go to try to get back some of the money they are losing. >> reynold just mentioned the latest on tropical storm alex. i'm assuming the folks there are getting ready for this? >> reporter: yeah. a lot of the emergency management officials, the parishes, they are concerned about the storm surge pushing a lot of the oil onshore. if the waves to react in the way, one of the parishes here ordered 500 hazmat suits so his workers can collect the oil. it will take five to seven days to disconnect and move everything off. i mean, two weeks of the oil gushing freely, so right now it is good news that the storm doesn't appear to take a direct path to affect operations, but that new system they have to connect a lot of things like a hurricane, it won't be ready until the middle part of july. even if they make it through this week, there's still the chance for next week or the week after, if you get more bad weather, that would be a problem. deplorable is what pope benedict calls it. harsh words over investigating the priest sex abuse scandal. i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee. - sure, cake or pie? - pie. - apple or cherry? - cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. some use hydrogenated oil. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip. that's why we're investing one million dollars every hour... to improve our technology and your safety. it's an investment that's helped toyota earn multiple top safety pick awards for 2010 by the insurance institute for highway safety. no other brand has won more. these top safety picks, and all our new safety innovations are available at toyota.com/safety. cameras and the crips det n detained. the criticism follows belgium police raids on a cathedral and several archdiocese buildings. they were looking for letters exchanged between sex abuse victims and authorities. two cardinals' tombs were also searched for alleged victim documents. holes were drilled into the tombs with cameras lowered inside. we are joined now from berlin, germany. diana, we are hearing about cameras in the crypt. it is pretty amazing details. >> reporter: hi, kyra. it really is. in fact, it was described to me by one of the leaders of the beth gym directlyry. they inserted a camera to look for hidden documents inside, and they removed the tombstone of another cardinal causing some damage to it. so we will see if there was a hidden trap door underneath. he says, the kind of thing makes me think of that. justice officials have said we are trying to find documents related to our investigation into abuse of children by church figures, bhau but what the church is questioning is whether the measures to i certify cameras into the crypt were appropriate or proportional. >> did they find anything? >> reporter: they have not confirmed what it is they have found, but they have taken huge amounts from the library, the archives. and from the commission the church set up, an independent commission, as well, so victims can go forward and come to investigate. the church says it is deeply unfair and invades the privacy of the victims was this was an independent commission to provide documents to the authorities. in fact, that entire commission's leading body is now on protest because of the measures the police took. >> we are waiting to see what the documents are all about. there are resignations and the vatican secretary of state says the way the bishops were retained made him think of commonist regimes. what do you know about that? >> this was a third raid on the premise, the headquarters of the oornlg diocese where coincidentally and the justice authorities say this was not planned that way, but coincidentally all the belgium bishops could conference this. they were detained there from 10:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night. although the pence could come and go as he pleased. it is difficult to go about just the general states of organizing the archdiocese. at first, they can't pay anyone and don't know what's coming up because they don't have the schedule. but i think tony is being detained without food and drunk and he likeden that. from the officials, the church officials i have been speaking to, that was not the case. they certainly were not allowed to leave the premise sis while the investigation was going on. >> thank you so much. for the first time, oil from the gulf spill has reached the shores of mississippi. we are telling you the latest on the beaches coming up. you must be looking for motorcycle insurance. you're good. thanks. so is our bike insurance. all the coverage you need at a great price. hold on, cowboy. cool. i'm not done -- for less than a dollar a month, you also get 24/7 roadside assistance. right on. yeah, vroom-vroom! sounds like you ran a 500. more like a 900 v-twin. excuse me. well, you're excused. the right insurance for your ride. now, that's progressive. call or click today. it is day 70 in the oil disast disaster. cleanup crews have been collecting tar balls, and so far no beaches are closed. senator robert byrd died today at the age of 92. the nine-term democrat was the longest serving member of congress. byrd called the vote against authorizing the military in iraq the proudest moment of his career. and senate confirmation hearings begin in just over three hours from now for supreme court come nominee elena kagan. if confirmed kagan would be the first non-judge in decades to get a seat on the high court. strange flavors and smells in your cereal box? double check your breakfast options this morning. details about a massive cereal recall coming up. is that different from health insurance? well yeah... ...aflac pays you cash to help with the bills that health insurance doesn't cover. really? well, if you're hurt and can't work, who's going to help pay for gas? ..the mortgage, all kinds of expenses? aflacccccccccc! it's the protection you need to stay ahead of the game... exactly! aflac. we've got you under our wing. aflac, aflac, aflac... aflac, aflac, aflac we make meeting times, lunch times and conference times. but what we'd rather be making are tee times. tee times are the official start of what we love to do. the time for shots we'd rather forget, and the ones we'll talk about forever. in michigan long days, relaxing weather and more than 800 pristine courses make for the perfect tee time. because being able to play all day is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. last week was a rough one on wall street. the dow fell nearly 3%, but this week is a busy one nor investors. alison kosik is here with what this means for trading. >> with just seconds before the opening bell, we are expected a flat open today, but a busy week on wall street. investigators get readings on home prices, auto sales and reports on the labor market. that includes the monthly job report. there's been talk about a double-dip recession. and reports could shed light on the issue to get a better gauge on the health of the economy. in the meantime, the g-20 meeting this weekend ended with an ambitious target. leader miss leaders pledged to cut the debt in half by 2013. if governments cut spending too quickly, it could hurt the recovery. all right. in the first few seconds of the opening bell of the trade today, the dow industrial is up 14. the nasdaq is higher by four. we are keeping our eyes on shares of bp up 2.5%, even though the company says cleanup costs have hit $2.6 billion. bp is denying reports that ceo tony hayward will resign soon. back to you. >> thank you. wall street is looking at some new resumes on how business is done. lawmakers worked for more than a year on reforms aimed at protecting you, the consumer. that's only half the story. cnn's christine romans takes a look at proposals not making the cut. so what changes will consumers feel first, christine? >> reporter: well, this is what you are going to feel first. there's one place where deceptive and abusive practices that target consumers will be sniffed out. that's the fed in the consumer protection agency. they are going to end liar loans. that means you have to prove that you have income and that you can pay back a loan before you get it. that's part of the problem. there's nobody making sure that people can pay back their loans. that's a rule. no pre-payment penalties for people with mortgages. and mortgage brokers, in particular, got bonuses for steering people into riskier more expensive loans. now you have the new agency that will make sure that can't happen, among other things, kyra. >> what other changes didn't make it into the bill? >> quite a few things. autos didn't make it into the auto zone. that won't fall under the consumer protection agencies. everything you touch with your money makes it in there, but not oversight for auto loans. they didn't get the mortgage reduction by the courts that some democrats had wanted. they wanted it when you went into bankruptcy to lower what you owe on the mortgage, that didn't make it. no credit card caps. you can be charged anything for an interest rate on a credit card. no caps. earlier in the process many hoped to cap credit card rates for interest at 36%. that didn't happen. and everyone agree that is something has to happen for freddie and fannie. this is you and i supporting the tax industry, but this particular financial regulation did not address fannie and freddie