Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015 -- Motion to Proceed -- Continued

Floor Speech

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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to applaud the President's veto of legislation that would have rubberstamped the construction of the Keystone Pipeline. This legislation allowed a circumvention of Federal review processes and allowed corporations not to adhere to various environmental safety standards that are important for the American people. So I am glad the President is vetoing this legislation.

The rules for siting cross-border pipelines are well established, and time and time again TransCanada has shown that it doesn't want to play by the rules. So with this veto by the President of the United States, he is clearly saying TransCanada must play by the rules.

The President's veto recognizes three important implications for Congress in the intervening and trying to pass this Keystone Pipeline process.

First, this bill was premature because it authorized the construction of the pipeline while legal and administrative processes were still ongoing in Nebraska and North and South Dakota and where landowners and tribes are seeking review in the courts and before regulatory bodies.

The legislation also eliminates the need for a national interest determination, which is associated with the process of the pipeline, which was a key authority for the U.S. Government to insist on safety and environmental regulations. It is a process that should have allowed the State Department and the President to insist on pipeline safety conditions.

Finally, this legislation did not address the loophole for tar sands oil companies to avoid paying for oilspill cleanups.

By vetoing this bill, the President refused to throw hundreds of conditions out the window. These are things from 59 different pipeline safety conditions that would have been legally binding--but not if the legislation had passed.

My colleagues also remember that we talked about work--that we now have concerns on the existing Keystone Pipeline. So I am glad the President of the United States vetoed this legislation.

I hope we will get on to working on other important energy opportunities. I hope my colleagues will not try to override this veto but instead focus on renewing the energy tax credits that help employ hundreds of thousands of people in various industries--anything from solar, to wind, to hybrid electric vehicles--and get on to the other issues that are so important for us in talking about a 21st-century energy strategy.

Again, I am glad the President of the United States has vetoed this legislation that would have been a rubberstamp by Congress for a special interest. Instead, let's make sure all environmental and safety conditions are met.

I thank the Presiding Officer, and I yield the floor.

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