On the recordMay 17, 2012
I want to thank the ranking member of the full committee for recognizing me. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this motion to instruct. A mandatory approval of the Keystone XL pipeline does not belong in our transportation bill. This provision jeopardizes the entire transportation bill and all of the American jobs that the transportation bill will provide and produce. The southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline from Oklahoma to the gulf is already moving forward with the President's support, but the northern portion does not yet have a final route through the State of Nebraska. President Obama has made it clear that he will not short- circuit the normal approval process and deprive the American people of their opportunity, their right, to have input just to benefit a foreign company and foreign interests. As it stands now, it is very unclear if this project would benefit the hard-pressed communities of this Nation, such as the one that I represent, with jobs and contracts and other economic opportunities that we have been hearing so much about and that has been bandied about by the proponents of this pipeline. We desperately need jobs and contracts and economic opportunity, but we have no guarantees that this XL pipeline will produce the same.…
