Al Franken: “I thank the Presiding Officer. Amendment No. 17 I wish to urge my colleagues to oppose any motion to table my amendment.…”

“I thank the Presiding Officer. Amendment No. 17 I wish to urge my colleagues to oppose any motion to table my amendment. My amendment is about making sure that, if we do build the Keystone XL Pipeline, it is built with American iron and steel. Those are jobs. I don't wish to short-circuit the process here, but if the pipeline is built, it should be built with American steel. The Presiding Officer's State produces a lot of American steel and very often with iron ore from my State. These are American jobs. TransCanada has said that 50 percent of the iron and steel will be outsourced from other countries, and the iron and steel for some of the other pipes could come from other countries. They also said they can use those pipes in other projects, including other projects in Canada. I agree with Senator Cornyn when he said these construction jobs that will help build the pipeline are real jobs. Just because they are not permanent jobs does not mean they are not real jobs. Providing the iron and steel and other manufactured products for this project will also provide real jobs. Our amendment will do this entirely and consistently within the language of the bill and within our trade obligations. I ask that my colleagues not vote to table this amendment because a vote to table this is a vote against American jobs. It is a vote against jobs in Ohio and Minnesota.…”