White House, GOP spar over Keystone amendment
This Sept. 19, 2011 aerial photo shows a tar sands mine facility near Fort McMurray, in Alberta, Canada.
/ Jeff McIntoshUPDATED 2:57 p.m. ET
President Obama is personally calling senators to urge them to vote against an amendment to the transportation bill now being debated in Congress that would authorize construction of the Keystone Pipeline from Alberta to the Midwest and Gulf Coast, a White House official confirmed to CBS News.
The amendment, from North Dakota Republican Senator John Hoeven, would authorize construction of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline to transport crude from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast. Mr. Obama denied TransCanada's application to build the $7 billion, 1,700 mile pipeline in January amid concerns about the environmental impact in the sensitive Sand Hills area of Nebraska. He said he was willing to revisit the decision but that a Republican-mandated timeline did not allow enough time for an environmental impact assessment.
The U.S. State Department has jurisdiction over the project because the pipeline would cross an international border. Hoeven says that Congress can circumvent Mr. Obama under the authority provided by the commerce clause to the Constitution.
Clark Stevens, a White House spokesman, said the amendment reflects the fact that "Republicans are trying to play politics with a pipeline project whose route has yet to be proposed, and despite the claims that this would somehow solve the pain families are feeling at the pump today, according to the company it would take years before it transported a drop of oil."
"The fact is that earlier this week, TransCanada acknowledged they still have not identified an alternate route that addresses the legitimate concerns raised by the Republican Governor of Nebraska, as well as local communities, and right now there is no application to assess," he continued.
Added Stevens: "As the president has made clear, we will ensure any project receives the important assessment it deserves, and the Administration will base a decision to provide a permit on the completion of that review, a process that was unfortunately blocked by Republicans in December. Meanwhile we continue to take steps to support American made energy, including doing all we can to expedite construction of a pipeline from Cushing, OK, to refineries along the Gulf Coast."
Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers have hammered Mr. Obama for his decision to oppose the pipeline, which they suggest could ease rising gas prices and would create jobs. Following Politico's initial report that the president was contacting senators to urge them to oppose the Hoeven amendment, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said "it's hard to even comprehend how out of touch he is on this issue."
"I mean, think about it: at a moment when millions are out of work, gas prices are skyrocketing and the Middle East is in turmoil, we've got a president who's up making phone calls trying to block a pipeline here at home," he said in a statement. "It's unbelievable."
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters that "by personally lobbying against the Keystone pipeline, it means the president of the United States is lobbying for sending North American energy to China and lobbying against American jobs."
The Senate is set to vote on the Keystone amendment - one of 30 amendments to the transportation bill, which has attracted a number of unrelated measures, including the controversial Blunt Amendment - later today, or possibly on Tuesday. A separate amendment, from Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, would mandate that oil brought into the country via the Keystone pipeline could not be exported. The amendments need 60 votes for passage.
Hoeven released a statement Thursday saying the Democratic amendment "will force refiners to sell gas at a higher price" because "some refined products can't be used in our country."
"Congress should pass the straightforward Keystone XL pipeline amendment that I proposed with Sens. Lugar and Vitter," he said. "Our amendment provides all necessary safeguards, including whatever time is necessary to address the Nebraska route. It allows construction to go forward on the Keystone XL pipeline to help lower rising gas prices, which are hurting American consumers and our economy, and to reduce our nation's dependence on oil from the Middle East."
With reporting by CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.
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That is all we need to know, but I will elaborate on the horrible energy policies of President Obama.
Gas is projected to hit record highs this summer, but his administration does not seem to care.
"Politico: By ALEX GUILLEN | 2/28/12 6:37 PM EST
The Energy Department isn't working to lower gasoline prices directly, Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday after a Republican lawmaker scolded him for his now-infamous 2008 comment that gas prices in the U.S. should be as high as in Europe.
Instead, DOE is working to promote alternatives such as biofuels and electric vehicles, Chu told House appropriators during a hearing on DOE's budget."
If Americans want to know why we are going to be stuck with massive oil price increases this summer, we have to look no farther than President Obama's administration. High gas prices don't just slam people at the pump, every product that is transported by fossil fuel will have to include the increased transportation cost in the prices in the stores. This will hit the poor and middle income Americans very hard, and it will hurt those on fixed incomes (the elderly) the worst. Not only that, vacations will be cut - nailing the crap out of states that depend on tourism. High gas prices will cut the legs out from under the small amount of recovery that we have experienced.
In an interview Barrack Obama did with the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board very early in the presidential campaign, January 2008 - he said the following:
"Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."
Does this sound like someone who is concerned with Americans suffering under the weight of high energy costs? NO. President Obama is a radical extremist with a consuming ideology that outweighs any concern that he has for suffering Americans. He has a dreamed up personal "vision" that he wants for America, and he does not care who gets hurt - as long as he can bring his own personal vision to pass. Does this sound like a President who really cares about the American people? NO.
We need a practical leader, with proven practical solutions, to turn this nation around economically. I am SO ready for a new President - one that cares to help the American people with proven solutions.
They will either have no answer or they will admit that the pipeline is all about export to China.
The 20,000 jobs will last longer than the 2 years to construct the pipeline.
The steel pipes used will be from the US and not from some other nation.
That the oil will be used in the US and not shipped to other nations.
And the republicans can guarantee that the price of gas will be $2.50 per gallon, if not then they must leave the House and Senate.
Yep... republicans will go to any length to hand the country over to big oil and multi-national corporations.
This pipeline deal is nothing more than a scam to use tax dollars to further enrich the American aristocracy.
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Not to smart are you? This is a private funded pipe line! No tax money will be used to build it. The reason Hussein got involved is because it crosses international boarders aside from that the federal government has no say.
They could build the pipe line from the gulf coast all the way up to the Canadian border and there would be nothing Obama could do to stop it. All they need at that point is state approval.
But I am sure this Oil hating president would do everything in his power to try and stop
The oil companies don't have their hand out?
Who pays for the infastructure needed to build the pipeline, it sure won't be Trans Canada.
Now, Russia does.
Follow THAT money trail?
But don't pin job creation targets on it - there are claims by the industry of hundreds of thousands of jobs. And some say it will largely be a few thousand temp construction jobs. And the industry is still talking about reducing our energy independence with this - when most of the oil will go overseas to markets that pay more than we do. Big oil is going where the money is, not working to build up our energy independence. That's just sales hype.