Obama's Choice On Keystone: American Workers Or Rich One Percenters?; Politico: "Boehner, McConnell Blast Obama For Likely Keystone Veto"

Update 3:45 PM As expected, President Obama vetoed the job creating, pollution reducing, bipartisan Keystone XL Pipeline. Not only did he side with billionaire Tom Steyer and hurt the expansion of jobs, he insulted our Canadian neighbor and ally. Oil will continue to be transported by an existing pipeline and by rail, which is more environmentally unsafe. As a result of Obama's action, The Canadian government may be motivated to reconsider a 2012 offer by India to fund a pipeline to Canada's East or West Coast in return for Canadian oil or products being shipped directly to India.
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Today in Washington, D.C. - Feb 24, 2014:
The Senate reconvened at 10 AM today. At 2:15, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 240, the House-passed Homeland Security appropriations bill.

Yesterday, Senate Democrats filibustered the Homeland Security funding bill for the fourth time in a row.

The House reconvened today at Noon.  Bill that may be considered and voted on later this evening.  No floor votes before 6:30 PM.
H.R. 212 — "To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide for the assessment and management of the risk of cyanotoxins in drinking water, and for other purposes."
H.R. 734 — "To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to consolidate the reporting obligations of the Federal Communications Commission in order to improve congressional oversight and reduce reporting burdens."
H.R. 1020 — "To define STEM education to include computer science, and to support existing STEM education programs at the National Science Foundation."

Bill Smith, ARRA News editor's comment on Keystone Bill: "Regardless of the rightness of the need for President Obama to sign the Keystone XL Pipeline, I expect that Money Talks and Obama walks! Billionaire Tom Steyer, a major liberal funding source for progressive liberal democrats, opposes the  Keystone XL Pipeline, and he has invested heavily in its defeat. I expect President Obama will support the radical left and veto the Keystone Pipeline bill regardless of  the needs of America."

Politico reports, “Top Republicans in Congress are sounding off once more against an expected presidential veto on the Keystone XL pipeline Tuesday, emphasizing economic and energy benefits and arguing that the only winners of the veto would be ‘bureaucrats, extremist environmentalists and the Chinese.’ And they say they’re ‘just getting started."

“In an op-ed published by USA Today, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Americans deserve an explanation for President Barack Obama’s likely veto and the lengthy approval process since the filing of the pipeline application — more than 2,300 days, they wrote.”

Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner in the op-ed state, “Tuesday, as promised, the new Congress is sending the White House legislation that would approve the Keystone XL pipeline. This project will support tens of thousands of American jobs. It will bolster the nation's infrastructure and energy security. And it enjoys a broad base of support from Republicans and Democrats, labor unions and small business owners, not to mention an overwhelming majority of Americans. Keystone is a no-brainer in every way, but the White House says the president will veto this jobs bill. Americans deserve to know why, and what a veto would mean.”

They explain the president’s endless delays: “What makes Keystone different? Just politics, really. Since 2009, liberal extremists have used the project as an environmental litmus test for the president. And he has repeatedly aimed to please, moving deadlines until after elections and stalling the project to near-death. The snag in their plan was, Keystone just kept on clearing hurdles, including every environmental test, leaving behind all the excuses for delay. A veto now would be the ultimate sop to these extremists at the expense of the greater good.”

And sure enough, National Journal reports today, “Now that the Oscars are over, Hollywood is turning its attention to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. A slate of actors and musicians, including Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Robert Redford, Willie Nelson, and Neil Young called on President Obama on Tuesday to put an end to the oil-sands project once and for all . . . . The cadre of celebrities has a history of opposing the pipeline. But the latest Hollywood push arrives ahead of an expected presidential veto of legislation approved by the GOP Congress to build Keystone XL, a pipeline that would haul crude oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast. . . . Others who signed the letter include Bill McKibben, the founder of the environmental group 350.org, Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Rhode Island Democrat and self-described climate hawk.”

President Obama faces a choice. The American public “favors building the pipeline” “[b]y nearly two-to-one,” as a Pew poll found in January; trade unions and workers including prominent labor leaders and Democrat supporters like AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka support building the pipeline. On the other side is, essentially, the oft-cited 1%. Liberal billionaires like Tom Steyer. The Wall Street Journal noted last year that “Mr. Steyer and the [Democrat] party's liberal financiers … have made killing Keystone a non-negotiable demand.” And now rich Hollywood celebrities are lining up to oppose the pipeline, too.

Will President Obama pick the one percenters over American workers and the vast majority of the American public?

As Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner write, the winners from a veto are “bureaucrats, extremist environmentalists and the Chinese. Meanwhile, the American worker and the unions that represent them? Canada, our dear ally and top trading partner? The middle-class families the president claims to be committed to helping? They're all left out in the cold.

“This shouldn't be a difficult decision. It shouldn't be about politics, that's for sure. The day after the election, we pledged to return Washington's focus to the people's concerns. We made Keystone a top priority precisely because it is a good starting point for both parties to come work together and make progress on the economy. And we can hope reason will prevail and the president will do the right thing.

“Unfortunately, this White House refuses to listen and look for common ground. It's the same kind of top-down, tone-deaf leadership we've come to expect and we were elected to stop. The allure of appeasing environmental extremists may be too powerful for the president to ignore. But the president is sadly mistaken if he thinks vetoing this bill will end this fight.”

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