Political Quotes

“I do rise in opposition to the amendment. My good friend from Virginia, I understand his need to make sure that our pipelines are safe, but this amendment is redundant of existing Transportation Security Administration guidelines. It's unnecessary and simply attempts to further delay the project. TSA guidelines bring a risk-based approach to the application of the security measures throughout the pipeline industry. As stated in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, DHS assesses risk as a function of threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences. With this in mind, the most effective security programs employ a risk management process that facilitates protective planning and decisionmaking to mitigate the risk for pipeline assets. The operator's risk assessment methodology is subject to review by the TSA. Therefore, risk and vulnerability to pipelines are already covered under current guidelines. There is no need to specifically single out this pipeline for further study. Clearly, this is intended to delay the Keystone pipeline from being built, so I urge a ``no'' vote and yield back the balance of my time.”