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Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas.) apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward during his Capitol Hill appearance Thursday for what the Texas Republican described as the White House’s “shakedown” of the oil giant.

"I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday," Barton said, referring to an agreement reached between the company and the administration to establish a $20 billion independently-managed escrow account to handle the claims filed against BP. During the course of his remarks, Barton described the account as a “slush fund.”

Added Barton, "I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong is subject to some sort of political pressure that ... amounts to a shakedown. So I apologize."

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who along with Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) spearheaded the call for the escrow account in the House, rejected Barton’s description of the account.

“The compensation fund ... [is] not a slush fund and not a shakedown," Markey said.

Markey added that the account is a move from the federal government to protect the nation’s “most vulnerable citizens.”

Barton’s remarks also drew scorn from the White House.

“Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a written statement. “Members from both parties should repudiate his comments.”