>> i did not know that. >> i know fred upton for a lot of reasons but to me that's a good reason.et. hard to forget. let's go through this. a, is this route going to get approved? just handicap it for us. >> i think that there ought to be a pretty good chance that it will antibiotic proved. frankly they are running out of excuses of why not to build this thing. they are in essence moving the route further away from the sand hill aquifers in nebraska. we use oil sands from canada. we refine it in other refineries around the country. there's no reason not to do this one. add 20,000 jobs, direct jobs, more than 100,000 indirect jobs. we're a country that consumes about 18 million barrels a day for transportation. we only produce seven or eight million. this is going to go china if we don't build it here. >> the keystone pipeline has become an icon almost in a way for the controversy about jobs and politics and the role of government. i'm curious if we've overblown all of this in terms of what this ultimately means. >> well, i mean folks understand what supply and demand is. this is t

fred upton is a republican, but he and i work together all the time on veteran's issues.n sullivan from oklahoma we work on natural gas issues. we work together on job-creation programs in community colleges. so we're willing to talk with anyone to see if we can create a better program to reduce the debt. when our founding fathers created the constitution nobody in that room was able to say it's my way or i'm going home. >> you are considered a blue dog democrat, which is a dying breed. do you think it is hard to be a moderate in the house of representatives? >> i have not found it to be difficult, because my only goal is how do we make our country stronger? and i remain encouraged that we can create more jobs more opportunity, and at the end of the day, it's about mom and dad sitting at the kitchen table and going will our job be here next month, can we cover the mortgage, educate our kids and retire with dignity. i'm willing to work with anybody to make sure the answer to all of those is hey your job is not only going to be there, it will be more solid and you will get

off message like when michigan congressman fred upton said his candidate, mitt romney was wrong on the auto bailout. off message like when chris christie joined the democrats in demanding that his candidate, mitt romney release more of his tax returns. it should be note thad the platonic form of off message surrogate this year came in the form of chris christie as well. do you remember this one? >> in terms of me, i'll be much more ready for years from now than i am now. >>stomping for the guy who is running right now, you're talking about how you will be ready to run in four years because your guy is going to lose this year and the republicans will have another shot or are you thinking he will win and you'll run against him after his first term? that's off message. off message happens. off message happens a lot. it's happened a whole heck of a lot with people acting as mitt romney's surrogates this year which democrats have attended to reacting to by softly chuckling about it but when off message happens on the democratic side, even when mayor cory booker clarifies his remarks and say

congressman fred upton of michigan supports mitt romney but he says he doesn't agree with the candidate's approach to the automobile industry. >> there was no one that was willing to come up with not only with the catch to keep them afloat but also to serve the warranties of everyone. you and i that drive all these cars, there was no one that could have picked up those pieces other than the federal government. there were real strings attached. the money be paid back with interest. that's still happening. >> he was willing to laugh about it in an answer. he said no one was willing to come up with the cash to make romney's plan work. that's the bottom line including rom nene romney's old company bain capital. they turned down the chance to provide lines. his proposal was a failure. the republican party knows it. even his old company bain capital know it. romney says he deserves credit for the auto industry success. he wants credit because president obama did the right thing. it's really eating mitt romney up. the president knew it wasn't a popular decision at the time, but he knew it was th

my great honor to be here on behalf of the energy and commerce committee with our chairman, fred upton. we are where the american people do not have a very high regard for congress as an institution. we see approval ratings of 14%. we have the opportunity to show the senate and house can come together and ask needed legislation to meet many infrastructure needs of our great country. we are very much aware of that the senate passed this legislation overwhelmingly with 76 votes. we are very much aware that the house has shown overwhelmingly that it does support keystone language. we would like to see additional reforms on the highway bill. i for one thing we can be successful but that the american people would be disappointed if this fell apart because of something like keystone particularly when the environmental impact statement out of the department of state after stating it for four years they said between the option of not building of a pipeline or building the pipeline but preference would be to build the pipeline. there has been discussion today about how long the route is. it is

is my great honor to be here on behalf of the energy and commerce committee with our chairman, fred upton. i think all of us are aware of the american people do not have a high regard for congress as an institution. we see approval ratings of 12% or 14%. we have an opportunity with this legislation to show the senate and house can come together and pass needed legislation to meet the many infrastructure needs of our great country. the senateware passed this legislation overwhelmingly with 76 votes. we are all aware of the house has shown overwhelmingly it does support keystone, the coal ash language. we would also like to see additional reforms on the highway bill. i think we can be successful in this conference. i think the american people would be significantly disappointed if this fell apart because of something like keystone and coal ash, particularly when the environmental statement after studying this for over four years said that between the option of not building the pipeline or building the pipeline, the preference would be to build pipeline. there has been some discussion today

>> i think speaker boehner and energy chairman fred upton and subcommittee chairman cliff stearns wantknow the facts. this report, the minority democrats, mr. waxman have put out an alternative interpretation of the facts. but the facts are as stated in the report. if you cover more people and require the coverage to be more thorough it's going to cost more, it's that simple. martha: representative joe barton, with your saoeufpltd thank you sside. thank you so much. good to have you here. bill: we have new details on a plot to blow up a bridge in northern ohio. we have pictures of the suspect involved. we'll bring you an update in a moment what we're learning from the f.b.i. he's repeatedly rejected taufbg being mitreject talk of being mitt romney's running mate. now he's raising eyebrows with what he said yesterday. we'll tell you what he said and you can decide. martha: he has people talking again. this man's little boy suffers from autism an was bullied at school. he never expected, though, to be bullied by a teacher. stewart chafitz joins us with an update on this story, there is m

congressman fred upton. >> bill: people are putting in these bulbs and manufacturers are making them.making the bulbs and selling the bulbs the other thing is the law doesn't say -- doesn't require you know to phase out incandescent bulbens, it just says they have to work more efficiently. they have to get more bang for the buck. so a lot -- the new light bulbs you know, people talk about the curly q light bulbs a lot of the the newer light bulbs because they know what consumers want look exactly the same as the old incandescent bulbs they use less electricity. that's what the point is. >> bill: are these people okay with flush toilets? >> it is a great political talking point. it is something that -- >> bill: silly. >> you know, republicans tea party republicans rush limbaugh and michele bachmann jumped on this. they said this is a great symbol of government reaching in to your daily life, into your light bulbs. >> bill: i think it is a great symbol of how stupid and petty they are. let's say hello to dale calling from the great state of california. hi dale. >> hi. i'm so glad you ha

it's my great honor to be here on behalf of the commerce committee for our chairman fred upton.we're all aware that the american people today do not have a very high regard for congress as an institution. we have an opportunity with this legislation to show that the senate and house can come together and pass the needed legislation to meet the many infrastructure needs of our great country. we all are very much aware that the senate has passed this legislation overwhelmingly for 76 votes. were all very much away or that the house has shown overwhelmingly that it does support keystone and the key lashed language and would also like to see additional reforms on the highway bill. i for one think we can be successful in this conference, but i think the american people would be sick scantly disappointed if this fell apart because of something like keystone, particularly when in the final environmental impact statement out of the department of state after it dany for over four years between the option of not building the pipeline are building the pipeline, the preference would be to b