On the recordJanuary 23, 2012
Mr. Speaker, today there are thousands of Americans who are forced to pay $3.50 a gallon just to fill up their car to get to work. And there are more than 14 million other Americans who can't get to work because they don't have jobs. Meanwhile, the little fellow from the desert, Ahmadinejad of Iran, threatens to block the Strait of Hormuz and thus control oil shipments and the international price of oil. The Keystone XL pipeline would bring 700,000 barrels of oil per day from our stable, friendly ally, Canada. And it would bring it down to my district in southeast Texas. It would create at least 20,000 jobs and over 100,000 related jobs. But the administration arbitrarily just said ``no'' to jobs, ``no'' to energy, and ``no'' to national security. This pipeline is in the national interest. Build the pipeline. Make unstable Middle Eastern countries irrelevant. Put Americans back to work, lower the cost of energy. While the administration continues to say ``no'' to Americans, Congress has the obligation and legal ability to say ``yes'' to America. And that's just the way it is. ____________________
