But Obama did not rule out a decision to approve the $7 billion pipeline, according to participants.

Obama told Republicans at the Capitol that he's still weighing a decision on the pipeline, which would carry oil from western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said Obama appeared "conflicted" on the pipeline, saying that many of the promised jobs would be temporary and that much of the oil produced likely would be exported.

But Terry said Obama also indicated that dire environmental consequences predicted by pipeline opponents were exaggerated.

"He said there were no permanent jobs, and that the oil will be put on ships and exported and that the only ones who are going to get wealthy are the Canadians," Terry said.

A White House spokesman said Wednesday no decision on the pipeline has been made.

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Obama brought the spotlight to people still without heat or electricity and hugged many of those trying to rebuild their lives. He also delivered a postelection message of unity, nine days after a closely divided America gave him a second term.

"During difficult times like this, we're reminded that we're bound together and we have to look out for each other," Obama said from a Staten Island street that was demolished by the storm. "And a lot of the things that seem important, the petty differences, melt away."

Obama announced that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, a former chief of New York's Housing Authority, will be his point person to oversee long-term redevelopment in the region.

On a three-hour tour, the president encountered many still suffering in Sandy's aftermath and waiting in lines for food, supplies and other help.

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During a visit to a Sarasota, Fla., restaurant on Wednesday, Biden took a customer's cellphone and engaged the man on the other end — apparently the customer's brother — in a lengthy discussion of the health care overhaul law.

After a while, Biden told the man, who seemed to be a Republican, that he wasn't going to argue with him to get his vote. Then Biden said: "After it's all over, when your insurance rates go down, then you'll vote for me in 2016."

Biden's campaign declined to comment on his remark or clarify his plans for 2016.

The exchange followed a political rally in which Biden slammed a GOP ad on the auto industry as "flagrantly dishonest."

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Appearing on the "Late Show" with David Letterman, Obama offered his first comments to the Romney remarks that have roiled the Republican presidential nominee's campaign.

A secret video of Romney's remarks at a May fundraiser showed that he said 47 percent of people will vote for Obama no matter what and they "believe that they are victims." Romney added that his job is "not to worry about those people."

Obama says "there are not a lot of people out there who think they are victims" or entitled.

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The House Energy and Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on a bill that would set a Nov. 1 deadline for the State Department to decide whether to allow a Canadian company to build a 1,900-mile pipeline to carry crude oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas.

GOP Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, who chairs the energy panel, said it makes sense to pursue reliable and affordable energy in North America. He said the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would create thousands of jobs and help cut gas prices.

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's executive director for operations, Bill Borchardt, said officials have "a high degree of confidence" that operations at the 104 nuclear reactors in 31 states are safe. He said inspectors at each of the plants have redoubled efforts to guard against any safety breaches.

Borchardt gave NRC commissioners a detailed look at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plan, damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the U.S. response thus far.

Borchardt told commissioners that Units 1, 2 and 3 at the crippled Fukushima plant have some core damage, but that containment for those three reactors has not been breached.

"I would say optimistically that things appear to be on the verge of stabilizing," he said.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the troubled plant, has been able to bring offsite power onto the site from a nearby transmission line, Borchardt said, the first sign of progress at the plant in recent days. Water is being injected into the reactor vessels in Units 1, 2 and 3, and containment in all three units appears to be functional, he said.

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The NRC met to get an update from staff on the ongoing crisis in Japan and devise a plan to meet President Barack Obama's call for a comprehensive safety review at the 104 U.S. nuclear reactors.

Bill Borchardt, the commission's executive director for operations, says that units 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have some core damage but that containment for those three reactors is not currently breached.

He says the situation at the plant appear to be on the verge of stabilizing.

NRC staff is in Tokyo conferring with Japanese government and industry officials on the disaster.

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Murkowski has already been stripped of her leadership role in the GOP caucus, and could lose her Energy Committee post as soon as Wednesday if the 41-member Republican caucus votes to remove her in a secret ballot.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is a former Murkowski ally, said there was a question whether it was appropriate for Murkowski to continue her leadership role on the committee, given her defeat in last month's GOP primary for Senate.

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr is next in line on the Energy Committee.

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The EPA says the tests also show that when mixed with oil, the dispersant used in the Gulf, Corexit 9500A, is no more or less toxic than oil mixtures with available alternative chemicals.

The test results were released Monday as the Obama administration defends itself against assertions that officials allowed oil giant BP to use excessive amounts of chemical dispersants whose threat to sea life remains unknown. Congressional investigators say the Coast Guard routinely approved BP requests to use thousands of gallons of Corexit despite a federal directive to use the chemical sparingly.

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Hayward, sitting by himself at the witness table, is expected to be interrogated sharply by lawmakers about BP's preparedness for such a massive spill and its failure to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf.

Lawmakers also want assurances that BP will compensate Gulf coast residents and businesses for oil spill damage.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A day after agreeing to a $20 billion victims' compensation fund, BP's chief executive is ready to tell Congress that he was "personally devastated" by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and understands the anger that Americans feel toward him and his company.

CEO Tony Hayward's contrition isn't likely to save him from a bruising Thursday on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are preparing to channel constituent outrage over the worst environmental disaster in the nation's history. Hayward, the panel's single witness, was surrounded by a flock of photographers as he entered the committee room and chatted with Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

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Facing questions over his administration's handling of the disaster, the White House said Obama will return to Louisiana on Friday to assess the latest efforts to contain the massive leak and clean up the damage.

Meanwhile, the Minerals Management Service stopped issuing permits for new oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, even as an administration official denied a formal freeze on drilling in shallow water.

"There is no moratorium on shallow water drilling," said Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "Shallow-water drilling may continue as long as oil and gas operations satisfy the environmental and safety requirements Secretary Salazar outlined in his report to the president and have exploration plans that meet those requirements."

Barkoff's comments appeared to contradict an e-mail sent out earlier in the day by a top official in the Gulf Coast office of the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling.

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Salazar said Thursday he will propose rules requiring certification of so-called blowout preventers by an independent third party, as part of an effort to tighten oversight of offshore drilling.

After the April 20 explosion and oil spill, Salazar ordered immediate inspections of all 33 deepwater drilling rigs in the Gulf. Inspectors checked if blowout preventers had been tested and if emergency exercises were taking place.

The machinery weigh up to 640,000 pounds and are supposed to stop uncontrolled blowouts in exploratory wells.

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The departure of Minerals Management Service Director Elizabeth Birnbaum was announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at a congressional hearing where Birnbaum had been scheduled to testify but didn't show up.

Birnbaum resigned "on her own terms and her own volition," Salazar told lawmakers.

The development came just hours before Obama was set to announce strong new measures in response to the spill, including extending a moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling and canceling some planned lease sales entirely. The midday White House event was to be Obama's first press conference since the Gulf of Mexico well began spewing oil.

Birnbaum, who had led MMS since July 2009, left after she and her agency came under withering criticism from lawmakers of both parties over allegedly lax oversight of drilling and cozy ties with industry. Salazar recently announced he was radically restructuring the agency into three separate parts.

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President Barack Obama prepared to head to the Gulf on Friday to review efforts to halt the disastrous flow.

Scientists said underwater video of the leak showed the plume growing significantly darker, suggesting heavier, more-polluting oil is spewing out.

BP's next effort to stop the gushing oil will, perhaps Wednesday, is to involve a procedure called a "top kill," in which heavy mud and cement are to be shot into the well to plug it up. The procedure has never been tried a mile beneath the sea, and company executives estimate its chances of success at 60 to 70 percent.

In Washington, the Obama administration said it has been laboring to root out problems at the agency that regulates offshore drilling.

In at least one case, according to a new report from the Interior Department's acting inspector general, an inspector for the Minerals Management Service admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the influence of the drug the next day at work.

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In at least one case, an inspector for the Minerals Management Service admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the influence of the drug the next day at work, according to the report by the acting inspector general of the Interior Department.

The report cites a variety of violations of federal regulations and ethics rules at the agency's Louisiana office. Previous inspector general investigations have focused on inappropriate behavior by the royalty-collection staff in the agency's Denver office.

The report adds to the climate of frustration and criticism facing the Obama administration in the monthlong oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, although it covers actions before the spill. Millions of gallons of oil are gushing into the Gulf, endangering wildlife and the livelihoods of fishermen, as scrutiny intensifies on a lax regulatory climate.

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Two Obama administration officials confirmed the order Thursday. Some lawmakers and environmental groups have criticized use of the dispersants, which shoot chemicals thousands of feet beneath the sea. The chemicals break apart the oil and keep it from reaching the surface.

Safety data documents show that one of the chief agents being used, called Corexit 9500, is identified as a "moderate" human health hazard that can cause eye, skin or respiratory irritation with prolonged exposure.

A spokeswoman for the EPA declined immediate comment.

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