On the recordJanuary 17, 2012
The gentlelady from Tennessee is correct. In fact, when you look at the timeline for Keystone--as you said, it's been 40 months. And the thing here is that the State Department has done the review. The President right now is trying to give some indication that now February 21 might not be enough time for him when, in fact, he's had much longer than the normal process for any review. But he's also got the approval from the State Department because there is one other big factor here. There is also the fact that China is out there saying they want the oil. So as America, through President Obama, is saying that he doesn't want to do it or he wants to delay it until after the election, where Canada has indicated they can't wait until after the election in November, they've got to make a decision. And they want to send the oil to the United States of America because we're great trading partners. But if President Obama keeps saying no, China right now is saying they want the oil. So we don't have an unlimited amount of time for the President to keep kowtowing to his radical environmentalist friends and try to kick the can down the road. A decision needs to be made; and February 21 is that date that's currently available, and we're trying to push the President to make that decision in the affirmative way and say yes to those 20,000 jobs that would be created here. With that, I will be happy to yield to the gentlelady from Tennessee.
