President Obama and Democrat Leaders Blocking Keystone Pipeline

By A.F. "Tony" Branco

Today in Washington, D.C. - April 25, 2012:
The Senate resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 1925, the bill reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. This afternoon, they will shift and resume consideration of S. 1789, the postal reform bill and voting on amendments to the Lieberman-Collins substitute amendment. All amendments will require 60 votes for approval. Twenty-two amendments remain to be considered.

Once all amendments are disposed of (via a vote or unanimous consent agreement), the Lieberman-Collins amendment will be agreed to and the Senate will vote on final passage of S. 1789, with 60 votes required for passage.

Yesterday, every single Senate Democrat voted with Big Labor to uphold the NLRB’s Ambush Union Elections Rule by killing S.J. Res. 36.

The Senate also voted to waive a budget point of order brought against the postal bill by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Following that vote, senators voted on 7 amendments to the postal reform bill.

Yesterday, the House considered several bills and passed (376-2) H.R. 2157 — "To facilitate a land exchange involving certain National Forest System lands in the Inyo National Forest, and for other purposes." Today the House will take up considerations of bills around 1:30 pm.

Democrat leaders claim concern over the high prices Americans are paying at the pump, but they continue to demonstrate that they’re not interested in changing some basic policies that could produce more and cheaper American energy.

According to The Hill, “Senate Democrats will hold firm and reject House Republican demands to include approval of the Keystone oil pipeline in transportation funding legislation, their leader said Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would not in any way help Republicans move Keystone approval across the finish line.  ‘Personally, I’m not — I’m not one of the conferees — but personally I think Keystone is a program that we’re not going, that I am not going to help in any way I can,” Reid told reporters. ‘THE PRESIDENT [Barack Obama] FEELS THAT WAY. I do, too.’”

Meanwhile, another Hill story reports, “Interior Secretary Ken Salazar blasted House Republicans on Tuesday for pursuing ‘fairy tale’ energy policies he said are aimed at scoring political points going into the election. . . . Salazar, echoing comments by the president, stressed that there are no quick-fix solutions to high gasoline prices, which have soared since December . . . .” It’s worth recalling that four years ago when Salazar was a Democrat senator from Colorado, he blocked a bill that would have allowed more offshore drilling as gas prices increased. But Salazar objected to the bill, calling more drilling for American energy “a phantom solution.”

To summarize, we have a president that blocked the Keystone XL pipeline, a Senate Majority Leader who says of the pipeline “I am not going to help in any way I can,” and an Interior Secretary who refers to projects like Keystone backed by Republicans as “fairy tale” energy policies and “phantom solutions.”

Yet other Democrats are not so intransigent. Last week, The New York Times reported, “President Obama is finding himself increasingly boxed in on the Keystone pipeline fight as more Congressional Democrats are joining Republicans in backing the project, which has strong labor support and could generate significant numbers of jobs in economically hard-hit states.” Early last month 11 Senate Democrats voted for a Republican amendment “to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project and provide for environmental protection and government oversight.” Recently, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said, “I'm fighting for construction of the entire Keystone pipeline” and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) declared, “I'm for the pipeline.”

Last week, 69 Democrats in the House voted for a transportation bill that included a provision that would allow construction of the full Keystone XL pipeline to move forward. According to the NYT, “Representative Dennis Cardoza, a California Democrat who voted for the House measure, said he would be happy to vote to override a veto if needed. He said: 'I think the president has made a very serious mistake here. I'm still supporting the president. But we have to do what's right.” Asked by The Times if he’d support such a bill Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) said, “I would vote for it, yes.”

It’s time for President Obama, Harry Reid, Ken Salazar and other Democrats leaders to stop listening to environmentalist pressure groups and start listening to Americans who want more and cheaper domestic energy, not to mention the growing chorus of Democrats who support the Keystone Xl pipeline. The Keystone pipeline would allow us to import less oil from foreign countries, more efficiently move American oil, and create tens of thousands of jobs. It’s a no-brainer, and it’s long past time for Democrat leaders to stop blocking it.

---

Tags: Democrat Leaders, Blocking Keystone Pipeline, US Senate, US House To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!