Citizens Fear Republican Weakness On Amnesty | Dems 'Stymie Energy Development | Obama Kills Oil Drilling in Alaska
Today in Washington, D.C. - Jan. 27, 2015:
The Senate reconvened at 11 AM today and resumed consideration of S.1, the bill to authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Votes on amendments to S.1 are likely this afternoon. Last night, only a handful of Democrats would join Republicans to move ahead on the Keystone bill, so cloture votes failed on the Murkowski substitute amendment and on the underlying bill. As a result, the Senate continues considering the bill and amendments to it today.
The House reconvened today at Noon. The House is expected to continue consideration of the following bills introduced yesterday but not passed:
H.R. 246 — "To improve the response to victims of child sex trafficking."
H.R. 469 — "To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to enable State child protective services systems to improve the identification and assessment of child victims of sex trafficking, and for other purposes."
And:
H.R. 350 — "To direct the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to identify strategies to prevent children from becoming victims of trafficking and review trafficking prevention efforts, to protect and assist in the recovery of victims of trafficking, and for other purposes."
H.R. 285 — "To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for knowingly selling advertising that offers certain commercial sex acts."
H.R. 181 — "To provide justice for the victims of trafficking."
Yesterday the House passed by Voice Vote:
H.R. 515 — "To protect children from exploitation, especially sex trafficking in tourism, by providing advance notice of intended travel by registered child-sex offenders outside the United States to the government of the country of destination, requesting foreign governments to notify the United States when a known child-sex offender is seeking to enter the United States, and for other purposes."
H.R. 514 — "To prioritize the fight against human trafficking within the Department of State according to congressional intent in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 without increasing the size of the Federal Government, and for other purposes."
H.R. 468 — "To amend the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act to increase knowledge concerning, and improve services for, runaway and homeless youth who are victims of trafficking."
H.R. 357 — "To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to expand the training for Federal Government personnel related to trafficking in persons, and for other purposes."
Last night, Senate Democrats blocked the first opportunity to move forward on the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline. After years of denying amendments to the Senate minority, Democrats claimed they hadn’t been able to vote on enough amendments to the bill. In fact, the Senate voted on more amendments last week then it had in all of 2014, when Democrats were in the majority.
Regardless, the Keystone bill remains on the floor for consideration and amendment and there will be another chance to move forward on the pipeline bill in the coming days. After six years of study and endless debates, it’s time to finally authorize this pipeline, create jobs, and build American energy infrastructure. Those are things Democrats in Congress and President Obama claim to want and it’s time they demonstrated it by supporting this common sense legislation.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to do everything it possibly can to stymie energy development in the United States (despite taking every opportunity to boast when production is up). In a must-read commentary, The Wall Street Journal editors explain what the administration is doing in its new attempt to lock up resources and lands in Alaska.
They write, “President Obama announced Sunday that he’ll use his executive authority to designate 12 million acres in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness, walling it off from resource development. This abrogates a 1980 deal in which Congress specifically set aside some of this acreage for future oil and gas exploration. It’s also a slap at the new Republican Congress, where Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has been corralling bipartisan support for more Arctic drilling.
“The ANWR blockade also seems to be part of a larger strategy to starve the existing Trans-Alaska pipeline, the 800-mile system that carries oil south from state lands in Prudhoe Bay. ANWR occupies the land east of that pipeline. The Interior Department this week will release a five-year offshore drilling plan that puts vast parts of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas—the area to the north of the pipeline—out of bounds for drilling. This follows an Administration move in 2010 to close down nearly half of the 23.5 million acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA)—the area west of the pipeline.”
WSJ editors explain further, “The political prize here is the death of the Alaska oil pipeline, which in its heyday pushed some 2.2 million barrels of oil south a day, but has seen volume slow to 500,000 barrels a day as the state’s existing oil fields decline. The drop in oil prices has increased financial pressure on Arctic drillers, and any lower flow threatens the viability of the pipeline. This is what environmentalists want because they know that if the pipeline shuts down, it must by law be dismantled. Since the pipeline is the only way to get large quantities of Alaskan oil south, shutting it down means closing to exploration one of the world’s greatest repositories of hydrocarbons.”
The bottom line, here, though, is that this is going to hurt ordinary Alaskans, costing them jobs and opportunities, not to mention the hit to American energy security. The Journal editors add, “The pity is that in his ANWR announcement Mr. Obama didn’t express as much concern for Alaskans as he did caribou. An estimated one-third of Alaskan jobs are oil-related, and the oil industry accounts for some 85% of state revenue. Shutting the pipeline would be a terrible blow to the state. New Gov. Bill Walker has said he may accelerate oil and gas permitting on state lands to compensate. Yet the vast majority of the state’s untapped reserves are below federal lands that Mr. Obama is now blocking.”
As the editors conclude, “In his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama again claimed credit for falling gas prices, but the truth is that every advance in oil and gas drilling has come without his help or despite his opposition. . . . His power play is . . . . a blow to U.S. energy security, and an especially nasty blow to tens of thousands of Alaskans.”
On the Obama's amnesty issue, The Washington Times reports, Conservatives saw it as raising a white flag when Republican congressional leaders pledged not to withhold funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the fight over President Obama’s deportation amnesty, stoking fears that for the next two years House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will consistently surrender.
"For the Republican base, Mr. Obama’s unilateral move to grant legal status and work permits for up to 5 million illegal immigrants was an unlawful power grab that created a constitutional crisis. If Republican leaders were not willing to use Congress’ power of the purse — the most potent weapon possessed by lawmakers to restrict a president — to stop a brazen unconstitutional act, conservatives reasoned, would the GOP-controlled Congress ever go to the mat to fight Mr. Obama?
. . . "The anger I see from my audience at the Republican Party cannot become any more palpable,” nationally syndicated talk radio host Steve Deace said. “We have a president who looks for new and unique ways to shred the Constitution on an almost daily basis, and we have a Republican Party leadership that refuses to do anything about it. He said Republican incumbents should expect a backlash and primary challenges next year because of their weak attempt to stop the amnesty.
Tags: Keystone XL Pipeline, Obama, shuts down Oil Drilling In Alaska, Alaska, economy, Amnesty To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
The Senate reconvened at 11 AM today and resumed consideration of S.1, the bill to authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Votes on amendments to S.1 are likely this afternoon. Last night, only a handful of Democrats would join Republicans to move ahead on the Keystone bill, so cloture votes failed on the Murkowski substitute amendment and on the underlying bill. As a result, the Senate continues considering the bill and amendments to it today.
The House reconvened today at Noon. The House is expected to continue consideration of the following bills introduced yesterday but not passed:
H.R. 246 — "To improve the response to victims of child sex trafficking."
H.R. 469 — "To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to enable State child protective services systems to improve the identification and assessment of child victims of sex trafficking, and for other purposes."
And:
H.R. 350 — "To direct the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to identify strategies to prevent children from becoming victims of trafficking and review trafficking prevention efforts, to protect and assist in the recovery of victims of trafficking, and for other purposes."
H.R. 285 — "To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for knowingly selling advertising that offers certain commercial sex acts."
H.R. 181 — "To provide justice for the victims of trafficking."
Yesterday the House passed by Voice Vote:
H.R. 515 — "To protect children from exploitation, especially sex trafficking in tourism, by providing advance notice of intended travel by registered child-sex offenders outside the United States to the government of the country of destination, requesting foreign governments to notify the United States when a known child-sex offender is seeking to enter the United States, and for other purposes."
H.R. 514 — "To prioritize the fight against human trafficking within the Department of State according to congressional intent in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 without increasing the size of the Federal Government, and for other purposes."
H.R. 468 — "To amend the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act to increase knowledge concerning, and improve services for, runaway and homeless youth who are victims of trafficking."
H.R. 357 — "To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to expand the training for Federal Government personnel related to trafficking in persons, and for other purposes."
Last night, Senate Democrats blocked the first opportunity to move forward on the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline. After years of denying amendments to the Senate minority, Democrats claimed they hadn’t been able to vote on enough amendments to the bill. In fact, the Senate voted on more amendments last week then it had in all of 2014, when Democrats were in the majority.
Regardless, the Keystone bill remains on the floor for consideration and amendment and there will be another chance to move forward on the pipeline bill in the coming days. After six years of study and endless debates, it’s time to finally authorize this pipeline, create jobs, and build American energy infrastructure. Those are things Democrats in Congress and President Obama claim to want and it’s time they demonstrated it by supporting this common sense legislation.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to do everything it possibly can to stymie energy development in the United States (despite taking every opportunity to boast when production is up). In a must-read commentary, The Wall Street Journal editors explain what the administration is doing in its new attempt to lock up resources and lands in Alaska.
They write, “President Obama announced Sunday that he’ll use his executive authority to designate 12 million acres in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness, walling it off from resource development. This abrogates a 1980 deal in which Congress specifically set aside some of this acreage for future oil and gas exploration. It’s also a slap at the new Republican Congress, where Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has been corralling bipartisan support for more Arctic drilling.
“The ANWR blockade also seems to be part of a larger strategy to starve the existing Trans-Alaska pipeline, the 800-mile system that carries oil south from state lands in Prudhoe Bay. ANWR occupies the land east of that pipeline. The Interior Department this week will release a five-year offshore drilling plan that puts vast parts of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas—the area to the north of the pipeline—out of bounds for drilling. This follows an Administration move in 2010 to close down nearly half of the 23.5 million acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA)—the area west of the pipeline.”
WSJ editors explain further, “The political prize here is the death of the Alaska oil pipeline, which in its heyday pushed some 2.2 million barrels of oil south a day, but has seen volume slow to 500,000 barrels a day as the state’s existing oil fields decline. The drop in oil prices has increased financial pressure on Arctic drillers, and any lower flow threatens the viability of the pipeline. This is what environmentalists want because they know that if the pipeline shuts down, it must by law be dismantled. Since the pipeline is the only way to get large quantities of Alaskan oil south, shutting it down means closing to exploration one of the world’s greatest repositories of hydrocarbons.”
The bottom line, here, though, is that this is going to hurt ordinary Alaskans, costing them jobs and opportunities, not to mention the hit to American energy security. The Journal editors add, “The pity is that in his ANWR announcement Mr. Obama didn’t express as much concern for Alaskans as he did caribou. An estimated one-third of Alaskan jobs are oil-related, and the oil industry accounts for some 85% of state revenue. Shutting the pipeline would be a terrible blow to the state. New Gov. Bill Walker has said he may accelerate oil and gas permitting on state lands to compensate. Yet the vast majority of the state’s untapped reserves are below federal lands that Mr. Obama is now blocking.”
As the editors conclude, “In his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama again claimed credit for falling gas prices, but the truth is that every advance in oil and gas drilling has come without his help or despite his opposition. . . . His power play is . . . . a blow to U.S. energy security, and an especially nasty blow to tens of thousands of Alaskans.”
On the Obama's amnesty issue, The Washington Times reports, Conservatives saw it as raising a white flag when Republican congressional leaders pledged not to withhold funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the fight over President Obama’s deportation amnesty, stoking fears that for the next two years House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will consistently surrender.
"For the Republican base, Mr. Obama’s unilateral move to grant legal status and work permits for up to 5 million illegal immigrants was an unlawful power grab that created a constitutional crisis. If Republican leaders were not willing to use Congress’ power of the purse — the most potent weapon possessed by lawmakers to restrict a president — to stop a brazen unconstitutional act, conservatives reasoned, would the GOP-controlled Congress ever go to the mat to fight Mr. Obama?
. . . "The anger I see from my audience at the Republican Party cannot become any more palpable,” nationally syndicated talk radio host Steve Deace said. “We have a president who looks for new and unique ways to shred the Constitution on an almost daily basis, and we have a Republican Party leadership that refuses to do anything about it. He said Republican incumbents should expect a backlash and primary challenges next year because of their weak attempt to stop the amnesty.
Tags: Keystone XL Pipeline, Obama, shuts down Oil Drilling In Alaska, Alaska, economy, Amnesty To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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