Cramer and Canadian Ambassador Discuss Keystone XL, Grain-By-Rail Mandates

Press Release

Today Congressman Kevin Cramer met with Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer and Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Greg Rickford to discuss the Keystone XL pipeline as well as Canada's grain-by-rail shipment mandates.

Cramer's Keystone XL legislation

Rep. Cramer, Ambassador Doer, and Minister Rickford discussed Cramer's Keystone XL pipeline approval legislation which passed the House last Friday on a bipartisan vote with 238 Republicans and 28 Democrats voting in favor. Cramer said one of the goals of today's meeting was to strategize about the future of the legislation in the U.S. Senate and beyond.

"While we have advanced the ball further with even more votes in the House, the opportunity to talk about strategy and how we can make the bill even better in the Senate and the conference committee to attract even more Democrats and make it a veto-proof bill was very useful. I am one who thinks we ought to add the excise tax to the bitumen that comes through not only the Keystone but through other pipelines. I think it is fair to our producers and it makes the bill more palatable for more Democratic members and perhaps even to the President," said Cramer.

Canadian grain-by-rail mandates

The Canadian government decided on November 29, 2014 to extend their grain-by-rail shipment performance mandates into March 2015, reversing comments made by Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in late October. Congressman Cramer strongly opposes the mandates, and has warned about their potential role in worsening the grain car backlog in North Dakota by encouraging Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP) Railroads to serve their Canadian customers at the expense of American customers. Ambassador Doer told Cramer he would raise his concerns about the performance mandates with Canadian Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt.

"I used this opportunity to express in the strongest possible terms my objection to the Canadian performance mandates, the continued extension of those performance mandates on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Putting North Dakota and U.S. farmers behind Canadian farmers and shippers is unconscionable to me. I believe it is a violation certainly of the spirit of free trade, if not the free trade agreements themselves. While I certainly understand the Canadian government's frustration with our President and this Administration, I am doing all I can to improve the relationship," said Cramer.

Other topics of discussion during the meeting included U.S. relations with Cuba, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

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