“President Obama and Harry Reid are held hostage by environmental extremists who do not want to vote on this piece of legislation. That’s what’s really going on here.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) delivered the following remarks at a press conference marking the sixth anniversary of TransCanada’s original application for a presidential permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline:
Excerpts of his remarks:
“First of all, I want to thank Senator Hoeven for his forceful, determined leadership on this project. It has always been bipartisan.
“You take a look at the number of people supporting it—this is bipartisan commitment to the jobs, to the energy that the American people want.
“Think about it—it’s about energy security, economic growth. It is good for the country, it brings in additional tax revenue and makes us less dependent on energy from foreign sources.
“So here we are today, we’re in session for a total of what, two weeks, of a total of three months if you take a look August 1st all the way until election day—talking three months of time—and we’re in session two weeks. Yet Harry Reid will not allow a vote on this important thing.
“John had said, ‘what’s going on here?’ We know what’s going on. President Obama and Harry Reid are held hostage by environmental extremists who do not want to vote on this piece of legislation. That’s what’s really going on here.
“This is all about funding of the Democratic Party by liberal groups who are opposed to American energy production and American energy opportunities. And that’s what we’re dealing with. Right now, today.
“It has been six years. Over a year and a half ago I asked President Obama during our lunch, when will we know about the Keystone XL Pipeline, and he said by the end of this calendar year.
“That was the year 2013.
“We’re now in year 2014, and that’s coming to an end, and still no vote on the Senate floor.
“That’s absolutely wrong.
“The American people know what they want. They want jobs, they want energy, they want action, we’re not getting it, we don’t have the accountability that we need from this Administration and from this Majority Leader.
“If we’re fortunate enough to find ourselves in the Majority, what you’re going to see is a Chairman of the Energy Committee named Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, and it’s not going to be any just show votes in the Committee that they know are not going to get to the floor, which is what’s been happening now on the Energy Committee under the current Chairman.
“What you’re going to see is actual votes being taken, cast, and the bills that are passed through the energy Committee getting to the floor of the United States Senate, and I believe we’ll get bipartisan support and will end up on the President’s desk.”
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