Saturday, January 10, 2015

Mr. Obama, Sign the Keystone XL Pipeline Bill

The US House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The vote came just hours after a Nebraska court ruled in favor of the proposed route. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved. The White House has warned that President Obama would veto the legislation. Passage in the House fell largely along party lines, 266 to 153, with 28 Democrats joining nearly all Republicans in favor. Representative Justin Amash (R-Mich.) voted "present." That is short of the necessary two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. The vote marked the 10th time the House has voted to authorize the Keystone pipeline in the last four years, and the third time in six months. Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would hold a cloture vote on Monday evening to end debate and proceed to a vote on the pipeline bill. The Senate legislation has 60 co-sponsors, which is the minimum needed for a filibuster-proof majority. Sponsors of the bill say an additional three Democrats have indicated support for the legislation, bringing votes in favor of the $8 billion oil sands project to 63. But that still falls below the necessary 67 votes for a veto-proof majority. McConnell said he expects the Senate to pass the legislation and wants it to be the first to be sent to Obama's desk by the 114th Congress. Republicans have control of both the Senate and House for the first time since 2006. Nebraska's Supreme Court narrowed Obama's options for explaining his opposition to the pipeline by reversing a lower court ruling, and thus upholding a 2012 law giving authority to the governor to approve Keystone's route through the state. The decision handed down on Friday morning clears a key hurdle for the Canada-to-Texas project. Republicans have argued that saying they were waiting for the ruling was simply an excuse for the Obama administration to avoid the pipeline. "The administration has said that [the pending case in Nebraska] was the major hurdle. It has fallen. So I hope the President is not going to establish another hurdle, that being himself," said Pennsylvania GOP Representative Bill Shuster, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. But Democrats dismissed GOP claims the pipeline would create American jobs, arguing it would pose environmental risks and primarily help a Canadian energy company. "We take risk to our lands, the American people face threats to their health, and TransCanada gets to reap the rewards. That's not a winning formula for our country or the economy," said Arizona Democrat Representative Raúl Grijalva. Both sides are urging the President to immediately restart Keystone's ongoing permit review process at the State Department, and make a decision on the pipeline's fate. The administration pushed back on Friday, arguing for delay because, in its view, more time is needed. Eric Schultz, a spokesman for the White House, said Friday : "Regardless of the Nebraska ruling today, the House bill still conflicts with longstanding executive branch procedures…and if presented to the President, he will veto the bill." ~~~~~ Dear readers, the controversy over the Keystone XL pipeline is proof that Obama's format for politics is not honest debate but pure partisan propaganda that leads to the detriment of business, American workers and even common sense. The truth is that the Keystone XL pipeline will improve and secure the environmental outlook for the US -- with over half a million miles of pipeline already in place, failing to replace that aging pipeline infrastructure only means more oil flowing via crumbling pipelines - some 50 years old - and forces dangerous rail cars, like the one that killed dozens in Quebec in 2013, to continue to haul petroleum above ground through populated areas. Enough is enough, Mr. President. Approve the pipeline and let America get on with its business of improving and providing for its future.

8 comments:

  1. The Keystone Pipeline has become not an issue for the betterment of the United states, not about the creation of 10 of thousands NEW and AUTHENTIC ACUTURAL jobs, not even about the major will of the people … it is all about the bantering between 3 men Speaker of the House Boehner, Majority senate leader McConnell, and the most anti American to ever serve as president Barrack Obama.

    It’s all about “positioning” not progress. It’s about photo ops not opportunity, and it’s about one man’s (Obama) supremacy not the sovereignty of the American Way.

    The Bill ha passed the House of Representatives. When it passes the Senate Monday evening by 1 vote or 10 votes, a simple majority, or a veto proof majority … when the Obama gets it he needs to sign the Bill. He is after all “President” not “Lord and Master.”

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    1. Our elected officials inside the Washington DC Beltway need to remember that they were elected on their political philosophy and their stand on various issues of the day. But once elected they are not there to represent their own views, but the majority view of the constitutes.

      Our elected officials need to remember they are ‘FUNCTIONARIES’ sent to Washington to conduct The Peoples Business … not their business. Their business is to do what we want done – they have no personal dog in the fight of passing laws. They don’t ACT on the peoples behalf – they do the work on the peoples behalf.

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  2. For God's sake Mr President sign it...

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  3. If Obama signs the Keystone Bill it will only because the Bill has been so watered down or loaded with spending that is irrelevant to the Pipeline (commonly called 'Pork') that a veto woukd be welcomed for political reasons.

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    1. Did you know that in 2012 Americans spent an average of $3,000 on gas? – more than doubling 2002’s average of $1,235? Were you aware our country owes $900 billion because of our dependence on oil? These are just a few statistics that should give Americans a little more to think about when they’re filling up at the pump.
      And deciding for frivolous reasons you’re against the Keystone Pipe Line.

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  4. Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer are urging Obama to block the passage of the Keystone XL pipeline if and when it arrives at his desk for his signature. Now he will we all know that, but why will he?

    The merits of the project are well known, including over 40,000 jobs, more secure access to North American energy, and lower greenhouse gas emissions than the alternatives of moving oil to market by rail or tanker ships. President Obama’s own jobs council famously advised: “Policies that facilitate the safe, thoughtful and timely development of pipeline, transmission and distribution projects are necessary” – and yet this permit process has stalled now for a stunning six years because of Obama, Reid, and Schumer.

    The principal opponent of the pipeline is San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer, who made billions investing in fossil fuels abroad before becoming a crusading political activist opposing affordable energy in America – and heavily investing in taxpayer-subsidized green energy that competes with fossil fuels.

    During a Democratic fundraiser at Steyer’s home nearly a year ago that he offered up to $100 million for Democratic candidates if they would block the pipeline. He largely made good on that promise, spending about $73 million, joined by a handful of like-minded donors but mostly from his own pockets.

    Steyer said in 2013 …“We have to make a decision to do something different… And if we do that, we’ll end up with a new carbon tax or we’ll end up with some control of carbon, that’s a given.” Got that? Steyer believes that if he can stop a major infrastructure project against the weight of all facts and logic, his goal of a massive new energy tax becomes easy.

    So for Obama and Friends it is in the defeat of the Keystone Pipe Line that will produce a new carbon tax. More tax dollars for Washington to waste on socialists programs, and more profits for Steyer and his friends via investments in carbon. Complicated but that’s the simple greed factor that has held this bill up for 6 years.

    Are Democrats really willing to block billions of dollars of private investment and tens of thousands of union jobs on the hopes of future tax hikes and the wishes of a single mega-donor? Well certainly they are. The more the Steyer’s make the more they will donate to the Democratic socialists causes.

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    1. In politics (especially Chicago style politics) it’s always follow the money and that will lead you to the logic of what is happening.

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  5. The pipeline would move oil from more unconventional sources – tar sands in Western Canada – to American refineries on our gulf coast.

    It’s approval would show America supports private risk taking in unconventional arenas, it would produce more oil, it would lower energy prices, and it would lessen control of Middle East oil producers over our lives. And, according to USA Today’s editors, construction of the pipeline would create 42,000 jobs. The President’s own U.S. State Department has given the green light for this project, calling the environmental risks minimal.

    But our President says no. His priority is not free enterprise but political power and left wing environmentalist ideologues.

    But President Obama is a politician more interested in selling his political wares than sharing with the American people where the really great breakthroughs are occurring in our country. This news doesn’t interest him because it is about American ingenuity, freedom, and entrepreneurship and has absolutely nothing to do with government.

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