On the recordDecember 20, 2011
I thank the chairman for yielding. I want to thank him for his leadership of the Republican Policy Committee and his work on this legislation. Last week the House passed a 1-year payroll extension which included a provision to override the administration's decision against the Keystone pipeline, a real shovel-ready project. The President's decision will delay the Keystone project until 2013, after the election, which clearly reveals this is a political not scientific decision. On August 26, the Department of State deemed the project to be environmentally sound after 3 years of analysis. In late October, I was fortunate to visit Alberta, Canada, which is America's largest trading partner, and witnessed firsthand the Canadian oil sands development and the extraordinary environmental safeguards to produce oil in North America. The construction of this environmentally advanced project will create 120,000 new jobs in America. With record unemployment, Americans need jobs now. And I know firsthand that the workers in the Michelin Tire Corporation of Lexington, South Carolina, are ready to produce huge earth mover tires, and MTU will produce engines.
