Roy Blunt: “I thank my friend for his leadership and his comments. The Presiding Officer and I are looking at legislation we looked…”

“I thank my friend for his leadership and his comments. The Presiding Officer and I are looking at legislation we looked at last year where the Senate would simply have to stand up on rules and regulations that have an impact on the economy and say ``Yes, we are going to improve those'' or ``No, we are not going to do those.'' That would be a role for the Senate where the regulators for the first time have an obstacle and an opportunity to come to the people who have to go to the voters and say: What do you think about this rule? What do you think about this regulation? I look forward to seeing the REINS Act again that would put some more controls over regulators, which both the Presiding Officer and I have worked on. Today I will talk for a few moments about the work we will hopefully get to quickly. The first numbered bill in this new Senate is the bill to authorize the Keystone Pipeline. In the 6 years that Canada has been waiting to try to sell us a product that we need, I have spoken about this--as many of us have--many times. It is hard to actually think about what I might say today that hasn't been said before in that 6-year period of trying to do what I believe and what most Americans believe is the logical thing for us to do. Our best trading partner, Canada--more North American energy is one of the critical keys to our economic future. As I over and over again think of the list of opportunities in front of us, that has to be near the top.…”