Kevin Roberts: “Splendid. I intend to speak for about 8 minutes. I admire the commitment, the perseverance, and the oratory skills of my…”

“Splendid. I intend to speak for about 8 minutes. I admire the commitment, the perseverance, and the oratory skills of my colleague from the State of California. I know how strongly she feels about this issue. I rise today without a portfolio. I do not have the charts my distinguished colleague has. Senator Hoeven has six in the Cloakroom. There are 12 over there. I thought at one time I would introduce legislation to ban charts from the floor, but that didn't go very far. I rise today in support of the bipartisan, bicameral legislation offered by Representative Cassidy from the House and Senator Landrieu from here in the Senate to approve the construction of the Keystone Pipeline. (Mrs. BOXER assumed the Chair.) Simply put, my point would be that this project is long overdue. It has been said time and again, but it is worth repeating: 6 years of delays and five separate environmental impact statements, and finally we are voting on this legislation--already passed by the House last week--to grant approval of the project. Let me repeat myself. Five environmental impact statements have been rolled out since the year 2010, all five concluding that construction of the pipeline would neither exasperate carbon emissions nor increase development of the Canadian oil sands.…”