On the recordApril 29, 2014
I thank the Senator from South Carolina for pointing out that bad Economic Policies have the most impact on the most vulnerable among us, including the number he gave of the percentage of income of families who have less than $30,000 of income a year, how much of that already goes to energy. The administration says they are for an all-of-the-above energy policy. That appears to be an all-of-the-above energy policy unless we know it works and unless we know it is available and unless we know we could get it, in this case, from a friendly source. Somehow, they are not for that. They are for ``all of the above'' until we really look at what is there and what we know works and what makes our current energy needs met in the best way. The pipeline is an example of a solution that would decrease our country's dependence on nations we can't rely on quite as heavily. It increases our trading relationship with our very best trading partner. That oil is going to be sold to somebody and a pipeline will be built. The question is, Is the pipeline built to connect to the most logical customer and the best trading partner and come south or does the pipeline go to the west and the oil goes to Asia? This is not about whether the oil comes out of the ground. It is not about whether a pipeline gets built. It is about whether we do that which makes the most sense. On April 18, the State Department, by the direction of the President, once again, said we are going to wait a little while longer.…
