Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague, Senator Hoeven, for leading this colloquy and I thank the distinguished Senator from North Dakota for her remarks. In the Washington Times today, Jack Gerard, the President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute said: Falling oil prices have empowered the United States and weakened OPEC and Russia. The result is that increased U.S. production in North Dakota has ``fundamentally reordered the world's energy markets.'' This is a national security issue. This is an issue where Russia--I think the break-even point for them is about $110 a barrel. Right now it is at $48. They never dreamed this would happen. Their entire economy is at stake, and hopefully it will cause Mr. Vladimir Putin to start thinking about some of his adventuresome antics around the world. In addition, the pipeline represents not only everything that the distinguished Senator has brought out but it is a symbol that says that we are going to go ahead with all of our energy production. We are going to go ``all of the above'' here. This is not either-or with green projects or fossil fuels or whatever. So if you vote for the pipeline you are voting for something that really affects our national security. Think about potential exports to Europe. They could be less dependent on Russia and so Vladimir does not have his choke hold on them, if you will. There is a lot going on with regard to this issue that people haven't thought about.…”