Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2014-Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCONNELL. Influence--it is a word we hear a lot these days, especially from our friends on the other side who suddenly feel the need to convince their constituents that they are ``moderate'' Democrats, despite the voting records that say just the opposite. These Senate Democrats can't stop boasting about how much supposed influence they have on energy issues, but it is a baffling claim to the rest of us because it is so hard to point to what they have actually accomplished.

Take the Keystone Pipeline. The Senate Democrats I am referring to claim to have so much influence within their party to get it approved, but the evidence actually leads to the opposite conclusion; that they have almost none at all. When it comes right down to it, they have not even been able to secure a serious, gimmick-free floor vote from the majority leader to approve the Keystone Pipeline. That should be the bare minimum.

The events that transpired yesterday only underscore the point. Yesterday afternoon several of my Republican colleagues again tried to pass the Keystone Pipeline. Once again, the Democratic leadership blocked the bill, and the so-called moderate Democrats simply stood by while their own party blocked this important job-creation legislation. They didn't even put up a credible fight.

It is disappointing, but it is no surprise because Washington Democrats have blocked approval of this shovel-ready, job-creation project for years now, even though it would create thousands of well-paying American jobs, even though it would help our struggling economy, even though it would increase North American energy independence, and even though the Obama administration has admitted that constructing the pipeline would have almost zero significant impact on the environment.

In other words, the Senate Democratic leadership is obstructing construction of the Keystone Pipeline for one main reason--to please their patrons on the far left. Let's be clear about something. The only reason they are able to get away with it is because so-called moderate Democrats let them, the same so-called moderates who claim to have so much influence around here.

The bottom line is these so-called moderates can't have it both ways. They can't credibly claim to have influence on issues such as these, even as they let their party leaders shoot down almost every effort to achieve the things they claim to want, such as Keystone.

Frankly, it is hard to see how we could ever hope to get a Keystone bill over to the President's desk and signed into law while Democrats run the Senate, especially when the so-called moderates stand idly by as the President has yet another meeting with the anti-Keystone jobs lobby tonight. The President is meeting with an anti-Keystone fundraiser today and will be hearing from an organization with a mission to stop these important jobs. He needs to hear from Americans across the country who are desperate for work in the Obama economy. Preaching to the choir is not going to get that done.

Ironically enough, the President will be meeting with these same anti-Keystone interests right after holding a pep rally with Senate Democrats--his reliable anti-Keystone backstop in Congress.

I think it is time to put aside the charade. The American people have already had to suffer through more than 5 years of delay and obfuscation on this pipeline. The bureaucrats and the experts have studied it to death over and over and over, and every time we learn basically the very same thing: There is a ton of upside to building Keystone and minimal substantive downside.

It is time to end all the politically motivated delays and get serious around here. It is time for Democrats who claim to support these important jobs to stand up to the party bosses and stand with their constituents and not just talk about doing it. We owe it to the American people to get these Keystone Pipeline jobs approved as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, it seems increasingly clear that will never happen under the current Democratic-run Senate, but one way or another, we need to get this done.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source