On the recordFebruary 1, 2012
The gentleman from Arizona brings up a great point about Solyndra and the Keystone pipeline. And I think there is a real question about what kind of an economy we want in this country. Do we have a Solyndra economy that relies on government funding, government financing, and then rips off the American taxpayers? Or do we rely on a Keystone economy that creates private sector jobs, 100,000 private sector jobs? The Arizona Republic said in an article, an editorial that they wrote on January 20 of this year, just a couple days ago: A lack of urgency regarding energy independence is only one of the reasons President Obama is being shellacked this week by Republicans and Democrats alike for his disappointing decision regarding the Keystone XL transcontinental oil pipeline. The foot-dragging runs counter to the recommendations of the President's own Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. President Obama's choice is a bad one. He needs to reconsider. That was an editorial, again, from The Arizona Republic. And with that, I would yield to my colleague and good friend from the State of New York (Mr. Reed), somebody who has been very active in natural gas production and certainly a leader in the Ways and Means Committee.
