To Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, let me just say that at long last this week we are going to be voting on the Keystone XL Pipeline. The vote has been a long time coming--years, in fact. Republicans have been trying to get this pipeline and the many jobs it will support approved. It would have been at the top of our agenda in January when we take control of the Senate, but we are happy to get a head start on that work a little early. It is just too bad that it took an election defeat and a runoff election to finally motivate the Democratic leadership to allow a vote on the measure. It should have received a vote years ago.
In fact, the Keystone Pipeline, if there is such a thing, is a win-win. It will create jobs. One can argue about how many jobs. The President's own State Department said it would support over 42,000 jobs. It will decrease our reliance on oil from dangerous countries. It will increase revenues to State and local governments. It will free space on overcrowded rail lines so the farmers can get their goods to the marketplace, and it will do all of that without spending a dime of taxpayer money.
Our economy has been limping along for years. The unemployment rate is still hovering at near recession levels and 9 million Americans are unemployed. More Americans are working part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time employment. Household income has fallen nearly $3,000 since President Obama took office while the price of everything else, from food to health care, has risen.
Americans need jobs and economic opportunities, and the Keystone Pipeline will help supply them. As I said, the State Department estimates that in my home State of South Dakota alone, construction of the pipeline would bring 3,000 to 4,000 jobs and generate well over $100 million in earnings. It will also bring over $20 million in annual property taxes to South Dakota counties. I know some of the counties in the middle of my State are counties that are struggling to keep up with the cost of keeping the local governments going. School districts are struggling to survive and property tax revenue that will come in as a result of building a pipeline will help sustain many of those local governments and many of those school districts during some pretty difficult times.
My State is just one of the States that benefits. Nationwide, the pipeline will support more than 42,000 jobs--construction jobs from welders to pipefitters, to those who work at local hotels and gas stations. It will invest $5.3 billion in the U.S. economy and bring States a total of $5 billion in property taxes over the life of the project. That is a lot of funding for local priorities such as schools, law enforcement personnel and roads and bridges. Opponents of the pipeline like to cite environmental concerns as a reason for opposing the pipeline and its jobs.
Five separate environmental reviews from the President's own State Department have found that the pipeline possesses no meaningful risk to the environment. In fact, even the State Department admits the Keystone Pipeline is the safest way of transporting the oil. It is safer than rail or truck. It is important to remember Canada will be extracting and transporting its oil regardless. The only question is whether we want it to come to the United States along with the thousands of jobs it will create or whether we want to let Canada ship that oil overseas.
The American people have been very clear about their feelings about this project. Poll after poll has shown strong support. Republicans support the pipeline. Democrats in both Houses of Congress support the pipeline. Unions support the pipeline. The only people who seem to oppose it are Members of the far leftwing of the Democratic Party. The reason we haven't had a vote in the Senate is not because a majority of Senators don't support the project, it is because Senate Democratic leadership refused to hold a vote despite having support from their side of the aisle.
While it is unfortunate it took the Democratic leadership this long to come around, I am glad we are finally here. I hope the Senate will finally approve the pipeline. If this bill passes today it will have one final hurdle to clear and that is the President of the United States. I very much hope he will listen to the voices of American workers and the bipartisan majorities in the Congress. Given his recent comments, I am skeptical.
The President has demonstrated a disturbing commitment to holding the American economy hostage to priorities of the far leftwing of his party. Take his recent energy agreement with China which would force American companies to implement costly new measures while China gets to do nothing. The national energy tax that the
President unveiled back in June will put tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of American workers out of jobs and devastate entire communities. The pipeline's economic benefits to support the American people and five--five--successful environmental reviews have yet to convince the President to approve this project. I am concerned this vote probably isn't going to help, but I hope I am wrong.
By signing this bill, the President could send a powerful message about his willingness to work with Congress, and he can show the American people he heard their demands for change in Washington and that their economic priorities can be addressed.
I am sorry American workers have had to wait years for this project because, let's not forget, they are the ones who have been hurt the most by the administration's refusal to approve the pipeline. I hope today marks the end of their waiting and I hope it marks the beginning of a new era in the Senate.
When Republicans take over in January, bills such as Keystone will be the order of the day. We will take up jobs bills that passed the House with bipartisan support but have been waiting for a vote in the Democratic leader's Senate. We will take up legislation to create economic growth here at home by opening new markets for American agriculture and manufacturing overseas. We will repeal the medical device tax which is opposed by Members of both parties thanks to the fact that it is eliminating thousands of jobs in the medical device industry, and that will be just the start.
I hope that just as they did today, Democrats will work with us even more on bills to create jobs and economic opportunities for the American people because it is the people of this country for whom we ought to be doing everything we can to help and to support. I can state that the people in the Midwest, in the heartland whom I represent, already spend--if they make $50,000 a year--20 percent of their income on energy, either fuel or electricity. All these proposals, the national energy tax, the deal with China, continue to drive up the cost of energy and make it more difficult and more expensive for middle-income families who are increasingly squeezed by these policies.
I wish to close by quoting from a letter the leaders received from the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives in which they urge Congress to support legislation to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, and this is what they say:
The Keystone XL Pipeline also is part of a long-term solution to alleviating the transportation pressures many in agriculture have faced. This year, farmers around the country experienced some of the largest harvests they have seen in generations. For some, their successful year has come to an alarming halt when trying to sell and transport their crop. Farmer cooperatives in the upper Midwest are facing major delays in getting their farmers' grain to market due to the sustained shortage of rail equipment resulting from the increased use of rail to transport crude oil. The Keystone XL Pipeline will ultimately free up locomotives and track to move more grain to market and improve our ability to handle year after year record harvests.
Yet another reason to support this project and the jobs that come with it, the energy independence that comes with it, the lessening--relieving, if you will--of rail capacity issues that are plagued in many areas of the Midwest and making it harder for farmers to come to the marketplace.
This is a project that is a win-win, and I hope when the vote comes later today, we will have not just the majority of the Senators but the 60 votes that are necessary to move this to the President's desk.
I yield the floor.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source