for more we are joined from washington by niels lesniewski. he's a staff writer with "roll call." so different power players now as all the committee heads shift? what's likely to happen? >> well what we're going to see in the senate where these big changes are happening obviously with the party control switch most particularly is we're going to see the republicans get right down to one of the agenda items that they've had on-line for a long time. and that's approving that keystone xl pipe-line from canada. the pipe-line project can is going to come up for committee consideration wednesday and thursday of this week. and so by the end of the week that bill should be out of the committee an be well on its way to the floor. now of course as you noted would be the chairmanship's switching lisa murkowski of alaska is the republican who will be the chairwoman of that panel el. and we're going to see that all over the place. and we'll see it not just on legislative issues, but we'll start to see a lot more oversight hearings as well in ways that maybe the administration would not like to

then niels lesniewski previews the president's tax proposal this week. "washington journal" is live every day at 7 a.m. eastern. you can join the conversation with your comments on facebook and twitter. pennsylvania governor elect tom wolfe will be sworn in tuesday as the state's 47th governor. live from the state capital at noon eastern on c-span three. our live coverage of president obama's state of the union address starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern. here is a look at his speeches over the last six years. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. [applause] >> by their hardships, our union is strong, we do not give up, we do not quit. it is because of our people that our future is hopeful and our journey goes forward and the state of our union is formed. the state of our union is getting stronger. we have come too far to turn back now. we have cleared the way. we can speak with renewed confidence that the state of our union is strong. you, our citizens, can make the state of our union strong. >> homeland security secretary jeh johnson laid a wreat

host: our guest is niels lesniewski. quoted in the des moines register this morning, talking about joni ernst. guest: the question was these responses -- as i was telling the des moines register, what always is the interesting thing is it is so seldom that those responses get any attentions unless something goes wrong or there is some sort of odd moment . think back to senator rubio with the water a couple years ago. the biggest thing is to deliver the message's is singly as possible -- as is singly as possible and not cause anything to go wrong. seldom are those things that are memorable except when something odd comes out of them. it is a tough assignment. it is a marker for senator ernst that she was asked by the leadership to take that on, but it is a difficult job to actually do. host: what is the message being sent by choosing her? guest: by choosing one of the nine new senate republicans who picked up seats that were previously held by democrats that is the message of the republican conference this year. their new

niels lesniewski its cq roll call congressional reporter and we're pleased to both of you. >> senator conrad i've been debating this bill for six years now with the administration we doing the pipeline since 2008. more and more people are saying on both sides this debate is overblown, that the climate impact is not that big. do you agree with those people who think this debate is not, cannot be as big as it is? if you think that do you really think it should be the first bill the senate is pushing with republicans in control? >> first off not only have been aware of this project for think the stitches wouldn't work on a but you been out to north dakota to see firsthand what's going on. you and many others know it will. it's a bigger issue, about building the energy infrastructure we need to truly be energy sector. i like to refer to as the north american energy security meaning the energy we produce in the united states together with canada we produce more energy than we consume. consumers are reaping the benefit right now. look at the gas price at the pump the gas is down more than 1

host: our guest is niels lesniewski.uoted in the des moines register this morning, talking about joni ernst. guest: the question was these responses -- as i was telling the des moines register, what always is the interesting thing is it is so seldom that those responses get any attentions unless something goes wrong or there is some sort of odd moment . think back to senator rubio with the water a couple years ago. the biggest thing is to deliver the message's is singly as possible -- as is singly as possible and not cause anything to go wrong. seldom are those things that are memorable except when something odd comes out of them. it is a tough assignment. it is a marker for senator ernst that she was asked by the leadership to take that on, but it is a difficult job to actually do. host: what is the message being sent by choosing her? guest: by choosing one of the nine new senate republicans who picked up seats that were previously held by democrats that is the message of the republican conference this year. their newly