If the Senate passes any legislation this year responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it will be a "narrow" package aimed solely at helping the Gulf Coast recover from the country's worst environmental disaster, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu said last night.

Landrieu, a Democrat, has been one of the chamber's most outspoken advocates for compensating the fishing, tourism and other industries that suffered economic damages related to the spill. She told reporters she still hopes to see such a bill pass the Senate before it adjourns next month.

"It would just be a very narrow bill. It's not an energy bill," Landrieu said. "It's a spill response bill that just makes sure that BP pays the full amount that is due in penalty."

Landrieu criticized a comprehensive "spill bill" that Senate leaders had hoped to bring to the Senate floor in the summer, which would have eliminated a $75 million cap on the economic damages an oil company pays following a major oil spill. She said limitless liability would drive smaller producers out of business. Instead, she worked with Alaska Democratic Sen. Mark Begich to craft an alternative proposal, although the two did not reach an agreement.

The so-called spill bill also would have codified changes the Interior Department has made to its offshore minerals leasing program. Landrieu said the pared-down bill she envisions could address offshore leasing at Interior. But she added that she might block that provision if the Obama administration does not make good on its pledge to approve more permits to drill.

"I've got such problems with the way [the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement] is operating; that piece would have a hard time getting through my desk," she said.

Landrieu opposed the Obama administration's moratorium on offshore drilling, which ended last month. And she says that too few new permits have been approved since the ban was lifted.

"They have so bungled this moratorium effort, if it wasn't so sad it would be laughable," she said. Landrieu delayed the confirmation of Jack Lew to direct the Office of Management and the Budget and said she would find other ways to pressure the administration to rethink its permitting policies.

"I'm not going to lay the plan out, you know, surprise attack. But there are other opportunities," she said. "And I'm going to fight it until the department starts issuing permits and getting people back to work."

Landrieu lifted the hold on Lew earlier this month under pressure from the White House and other Senate Democrats -- and with a promise from Interior to "provide certainty and regulatory clarity" to the industry. But after a meeting between Interior officials and shallow-water drilling advocates in Louisiana earlier this month, she isn't so sure she and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are on the same page.

"The meeting did not meet expectations by any stretch of the imagination," Landrieu said last night. "This administration has failed to use every opportunity they've been provided to reassure the industry that they actually believe they have a future in this country."

Reporter Katie Howell contributed.