mr. wright. i will recognize myself for five minutes of questions. miss jones, in october 15th, 2010, secretary of state clinton said she was inclined to approve the keystone pipeline permit. on october 31st, 2011, white house press secretary jay carney stated the fact is this is the decision that will be made by the state department. and the very next day president obama said the decision would rest with him but in the president's announcement last week to reject the pipeline's permit he said he had accepted the state department's recommendation to do so. my question would be review involved in the decision made at the state department and did you recommend to the president that he rejected this permit? >> thank you, mr. chairman. the recommendation that went to the president was a state department recommendation and it came from the state from my bureau and other bureaus. it came through the deputy and to the secretary to the president. >> you recommended the permit be denied. >> yes. >> what other bureaus at the state department were involved in t

mr. wright, but he may be mr. right now. i was speaking to one of his top advisers yesterday who said that usually in politics, the head follows the heart and people talk themselves into it. in this case, they believe the heart will follow the head. they will embrace him and the passion will come later. >> they have tried other people. that has been part of the wildness of this race. we have seen people rise to the top only to be knocked down. mitt romney has had his share of odd moments. >> it is possible that nobody participates in american politics who is a normal human being. they have tried a lot of other options. if i was mitt romney, i would be feeling a little bit of angst, maybe even a little does respected. he has proven himself better than, after comer who has tried to topple him. people are still not willing to call him a strong nominee. at what point are they willing to say that is not the case? >> do you think he is the most likely candidate to be able to give barack obama a run for his money? >> this question

mr. wright or ms. wright you might be living in the right place.ew survey shows the 25 bests it is to find a date this year. alexandria came in at no. 21. atlanta tops the list. they looked at the mental and physical health of each city and the cost of dating. >>> adam caskey will have a final look at the >>> we know how popular cupcakes stores are these days. three sisters from great falls are trying to get a slice of the dessert market. there are opening up a store in georgetown. obliquely sisters -- the blakely sisters had their opening this morning. get some. over a dozen varieties. >> i cannot leave those big trees without getting multiple boxes. >> you cannot just need one. >>> we are doing a little better. >> maybe by monday there's some brains out of town. a better chance by wednesday. that's going to be warm. what i had yesterday was a bacon cupcake.

mr. wright, you're recognized for five minutes. awe thank you. chairman, ranking member, and members of the subcommittee, i'm the director of the office of energy projects at the federal energy regulatory commission, and i appreciatei ao appear before you today. the office is responsible for the certification of of interstate pipelines pursuant to the natural gas act. the act addresses the keystone pipeline project. i have no position on the bill but should they act on an application, the office would likely take a primary role in devising commission on the matter. i will offer comments on the bill with the goal of seeking to ensure that if congress gives this responsibility to the commission, the legislation should provide clear procedures. before commenting, authorization provided by the bill would differ from the natural gas act and that the proposed act does not make any provision for procedures such as public notice, public comment, issuance of an order, hearing, or a judicial review and consideration of an application. section three would r

mr. jeffrey wright at the federal energy regulatory commission. i welcome you to the hearing. each one of you will be recognized for five minutes. then we will have questions for you at that time. ms. jones, i will recognize you for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> turn on your microphone. >> i think it is on. good morning, members of the subcommittee on energy and power. i appreciate the opportunity to be here before you today. we received the outline for the project in 2008 and we undertook a thorough and rigorous process to determine the issuance of the pipeline -- >> would you please pull the microphone closer to you? >> is that better? i think you know the first part already. in december, congress passed a temporary payroll tax cut extension act of 2011 which required a response within 60 days. on january 18th, 2012, the department of state recommend that the application for presidential permit be denied due to insufficient time to conduct necessary analysis. the president to accept it and we felt the pipeline, as looked at by that time, would not benefit nati

mr. wright, let me ask you. now, you, to your job, i asked my staff to look into your background. i think you've been with for since the inception of the department that you work with. >> 1979 i began at for them and it today is based, since 1979, your testimony today that what we're attempting to do, or the proposition to basically circumvent or introduce a new process at this point in time would not be workable in its present form, is that correct? >> well, my tesla is based upon my experience with the signing of natural gas pipelines under the natural gas act are given the strictures of the natural gas academic space with gas pipelines trying to extrapolate two oil pipelines, it does appear to be enough time as i mentioned for procedures to be followed with public notice, public comment, time allowed to do another appropriate study under the national environmental policy act. this is not the first time congress is unhappy with basically one department and one agent to come and we try to transfer it to another. the other agency or department is telling us it's still not going to

mr. ross broke the jeremiah wright story during the last presidential campaign. also reporting in mitt romney's offshore investments now. doing that interview make you scweem squeamish at all, brian. >> not where i thought i would go when we were seeking out marianne for the interview. we were investigating the ethics investigation and the fbi investigation that ultimately philadelphia. that's the starting point. as we got to go back and forth with marianne she finally agreed to do an interview this last week and said she wanted to say all about what happened to the marriage and why, in her view, she thinks newt gingrich does not have the moral character to be president. >> bill: okay. but she has said that before. it's been around, you know that. when i saw the cut aways of you, you didn't look like you were having a good time there. >> well, this is not exactly where we go. but, in this campaign, character has become an issue. mr. gingrich has campaigned on a platform that includes a strong stand on family values and the sanctity of marriage. >> bill: he says i

mr. jeffrey wright who is director of the office of energy project and the federal regulatory commission.all at the hearing. each one of you will be recognized for five minutes. we will have questions for you at that time. miss jones, i will recognize you for five minutes. >> be sure to turn your microphone on. >> good morning. i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today. the u.s. department of state received the application in september 2008. we undertook if there are rigorous and transparent project whether insurance of a pop plan would be in the national -- >> would you please hold the microphone closer to you. >> i thinking of the first part already. in december, congress passed a payroll tax cut continuation act to doesn't 11 which required a determination of the president whether the pipeline project would serve the national interest. the department of state recommended to the president the application for a permit be denied the to insufficient time to conduct analysis. the president accepted our determination and determine the the project as presented and analyzed would

giving us some perfespective on newt gingrich, brian wright senior pastor of johnson ferry baptist church. mrs on florida now. this is a pretty crucial primary now, isn't it? . >> it's all about florida. for over a year now we've said florida is the place to be. i say welcome to florida, over 4 million registered republicans. where our primary is already under way with over 200,000 votes cast as of today. >> the polls at the moment have romney ahead 43%, i think santorum second with 19%, gingrich has about 18%. but i would imagine after tonight these could change quite rapidly. weigh saw a movement in south carolina which really, really was dramatic in favor of gingrich and away from romney. what are you expecting to happen in florida? >> well, i think -- you know, it's like in the nfl. they say on any given sunday. we're down to the final four, these are all profession alz. they've got great resumes, know what they're doing. with these debates i say on any given debate, the last two debates in florida, particularly the one hosted by cnn and the republican party here in jacksonville i think i

giving us some perfespective on newt gingrich, brian wright senior pastor of johnson ferry baptist church. mrs on florida now. polls at the moment have romney ahead 43%, i think santorum second with 19%, gingrich has about 18%. but i would imagine after tonight these could change quite rapidly. weigh saw a movement in south carolina which really, really was dramatic in favor of gingrich and away from romney. what are you expecting to happen in florida? >> well, i think -- you know, it's like in the nfl. they say on any given sunday. we're down to the final four, these are all profession alz. they've got great resumes, know what they're doing. with these debates i say on any given debate, the last two debates in florida, particularly the one hosted by cnn and the republican party here in jacksonville i think is going to be critical in voters making up their minds. >> there were lots of rumors flying around earlier tonight that jeb bush would give an endorsement to mitt romney. that now appears to be untrue and what we're hearing is he's decided to not endorse anybody. what are you hearing? >>

wright than barack obama was. >> you don't think she is snotty? >> i think she is fine. >> really? mrs.gula. >> you can't say that is a little uppity? >> what kind of a self-centered arrogant, controlling character disorder are we dealing with? >> we didn't hear this about laura bush. >> let's bring in contributor joy-ann reid, jonathan alter and richard wolffe, joy-ann, why is she responding to this? >> conservatives need to kill that word from the lexicon, i think what you're hearing from michelle obama is three years of pent up frustration for the way she was portrayed from 2007, she was caricatured, she doesn't love her country, hates white people, angry. nothing about michelle obama demonstrated this at all. she is supportive of the president, you never saw her weigh in on policy. the most policy thing she has done is work with military families. i don't think this book necessarily portrayed her that way from my understanding of it but i think you're hearing her frustration. >> was there friction in the white house? >> not really. the book doesn't actually depict very much tension.

mr. obama was displeased in how she depicted him in her book scorpions from breakfast. stemming from the 2010 meeting at the white house when they talked about immigration. in her book, she bright wright that the president lectured her condescendingly. >> i believe it was true. >> reporter: she felt displayed by his reaction. >> i asked him to come and join me again at the border and that i would buy lunch and he indicated at that point in time that he was a little uncomfortable, a little unappreciative, if you will of my book and the way he was portrayed in it. i felt unnerved by the way that he spoke to me about it. >> next up, president obama heads to the university of michigan to time out his proposal to keep college affordable and then later to speak at the house democratic issues conference in maryland. ainsley air hart, fox news, new york. >>> and let's change the subject and talk about sports now. >>> we're weeks away from the washington nationals. up next, they added another arm to the roster with some good grenneddentuals. >>. and i looking for the perfect gard then spring? some new guidelines to help you know what will grow best. stay with us, we'll be right back. we believ

mrs. obama later today. she's not the only headliner. >>> first, we're going to check in with tucker for your very chilly weekend forecast. julie wright will be along to tell us about your drive into work this morning. stay with us. fox 5 morning news continues. right now it is 6:12.  ♪ i'm feelin', feelin' a sunny day ♪ ♪ sunny day ♪ i'm feelin', feelin' the taste i crave ♪ ♪ subway ♪ i'm makin' it, makin' it how i like ♪ ♪ it's meant to be ♪ i'm feelin' subway ♪ i'm feelin' subway today [ male announcer ] hey, capital area! are you feelin' subway®? then heat up your day with the big hot pastrami melt! it's fresh toasted and piled-high with pastrami, then topped with pickles, mustard, and cheese. head into a subway® restaurant today for this melty, mouthwatering sub! ♪ i'm feelin' subway ♪ let's go >>> the ravens on a great run. baltimore's playoff push towards the super bowl begins this weekend against the houston texans. it's their fourth straight year in the playoffs. all the qk has ever known since -- quarterback has ever known since starting as a rookie. >> we wanted to tell you -- i'm mesmerized by being in the playof

wright museum. this is in wolfeboro, new hampshire, the central part of the state. some of the poll numbers coming out of the latest new hampshire primary poll, mrey is in the lead here in new hampshire. he has about 44% of voters support. ron paul is in second place with 20%. ed newt gingrich, who you'll see here in a few minutes, is in third place with about 8%. later today, his daughter is scheduled to attend a meeting and agreed with the gop women's group this afternoon down near the massachusetts border, and that is also near where rick santorum is campaigning today. we will have live coverage of one of rick santorum's events as well. we will have that at 2:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. just a few minutes away, 10 to 15 minutes before we see former house speaker newt gingrich's. clip: ♪ >> i am the speaker of the house in new hampshire. how ar you? [applause] i am pleased to be up here. my son went to brewster academy, so we come up here all the time. what a great area of the state is that you live in but i am here for an important reason today. i am here to talk to you about the candidate that i have endorsed for president of the united