President's Veto Of Keystone Pipeline Bill Is A National Embarrassment | USA Today: Congress End This Drama - Overriide Obama's Veto

Today in Washington, D.C. - Feb. 25, 2015
Yesterday, President Obama vetoed the job creating, pollution reducing, bipartisan Keystone XL Pipeline.

Speaker John Boehner responded to the veto calling it "a National embarrassment."

“The president’s veto of the Keystone jobs bill is a national embarrassment. It’s embarrassing when Russia and China are plowing ahead on two massive pipelines and we can’t get this one no-brainer of a project off the ground. The president is just too close to environmental extremists to stand up for America’s workers. He’s too invested in left-fringe politics to do what presidents are called on to do, and that’s put the national interest first.

“For the president, Keystone may just be today’s politics, but there are workers and unions who have spent years counting on the 42,000 jobs this project will support. There are small business owners counting on the promise and opportunities this project will bring to their towns. There are governors in both parties counting on the revenue and growth this project will bring to their states. There are manufacturers clamoring for the development of North America’s resources. And there’s an overwhelming majority of Americans who want us to put politics aside and get this done.

“So we are not going to give up in our efforts to get this pipeline built – not even close. We pledged to make the people’s priorities our priorities, and we will keep working every day to deliver on that commitment.”The Senate reconvened today at 9:30 AM. At 11 AM, the Senate resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 240, the House-passed Homeland Security appropriations bill.

At 12:50 PM, the Senate recessed until 2 PM and then resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 240.

The House reconvened at 10 AM. It may consider the following bills today:
H.R. 529 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve 529 plans; providing for consideration of the bill H.R. 5 - To support State and local accountability for public education, protect State and local authority, inform parents of the performance of their children's schools, and for other purposes; and for other purposes."
H.R. 1020 — "To define STEM education to include computer science, and to support existing STEM education programs at the National Science Foundation."

Yesterday the House passed:
H.R. 212 (375 - 37) — "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 (411-0) — "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."

In a must-read editorial, >USA Today writes, “After years of dithering, President Obama finally acted quickly and decisively Tuesday on the Keystone XL pipeline: Within hours of receiving a bill approving construction of the $8 billion project, he vetoed it.

In a terse veto message, the president said the Keystone legislation would ‘circumvent longstanding and proven processes’ for evaluating a project like this one. Oh, please. The administration has been evaluating Keystone for more than six years. There's just no plausible excuse for the epic delay that has turned what should be a relatively minor policy dispute into one of Washington's hyperventilated shouting matches.”

The president has had no good excuse for his endless delays on this pipeline for years. He simply is putting the preferences of rich liberal billionaires and environmental radicals over American workers and consumers. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell put it, “Yesterday, President Obama took the extreme step of vetoing good American jobs. He sided with partisan extremists and powerful special interests over the middle class. It says a lot about the priorities of this Administration. But if the White House thinks this is the end of the new Congress' push for American jobs, it's wrong. I'll soon have more to say about this, and what the Senate plans to do.”

The Wall Street Journal editors explain that the president’s position is so extreme that he’s isolating himself. “White House aides are whispering that President Obama ’s veto of the Keystone XL pipeline authorization bill signals a new phase of his Presidency, and we suppose they’re right. He’ll finish out his tenure as a Howard Hughes-like penthouse recluse who is ever more withdrawn from the political and economic center.

“The legislation to build the Keystone XL pipeline that Mr. Obama rejected Tuesday enjoys a broad bipartisan consensus, including support from nine Senate Democrats and 28 in the House. Business, labor unions, most consumers, and ally and trading partner Canada are also in favor of this $8 billion infrastructure project, which will create jobs, strengthen North American energy security and increase prosperity. Mr. Obama is refusing these benefits to bow to the environmental-left fringe that opposes all carbon energy.”

USA Today’s editors are simply exhausted by the White House’s endless delays and the way the Left has turned the pipeline into a massive controversy. They write, “If the Keystone pipeline saga were a play, the audience would long ago have gotten up and left out of sheer boredom. The company that wants to build the pipeline first asked for approval from the State Department nearly seven years ago. Since then, every conceivable issue has been exhaustively investigated, and virtually every fact has gotten mangled.”

They urge, “Congress ought to end this drama by overriding Obama's veto, just the third of his presidency and his first since 2010. If the votes can't be mustered on Capitol Hill, the president has more than enough information to bring down the curtain. It is long past time to just say yes.”

Democrats should join Republicans in Congress and override President Obama’s veto. And whenever the Obama administration has finally satisfied itself with its interminable studies of the Keystone XL project, the president should “just say yes.”

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