[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 137 (Wednesday, November 12, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S5899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I was on the floor earlier today. I have 
been on the floor since we convened back into session--our first 
session since the election--and I am very heartened by what I have 
heard from colleagues such as the Senator from Hawaii, who just spoke, 
our colleague from Montana, who just spoke, our colleague from 
Tennessee, who spoke; as well as the leadership particularly, including 
Leader Reid, majority leader-to-be Mitch McConnell, and the Senator 
from Texas, Mr. Cornyn, all of whom came to the floor and said they 
heard the message of the American people. The message is that now is 
the time to stop the bickering, stop the fighting, stop the gridlock, 
and take action on issues the American people know are the right 
answers for our country, focusing on building jobs and economic hope 
for the middle class, in large measure because of this extraordinary 
opportunity for an energy renaissance that is underway as we speak--
energy jobs, petrochemical jobs, manufacturing jobs.
  Our unemployment rate in south Louisiana is 3.5 percent. Our general 
unemployment rate is much lower than the national average and has been 
for many years. But even in my State, with these very positive numbers, 
middle-class families are seeing their incomes stagnate, their way of 
life not progressing, and their economic progress not moving forward as 
it should.
  So while people are happy and doing well in some parts of the 
country--every leader came to the floor and said, we heard the American 
people. We want jobs. We want economic opportunity. We want the middle 
class put first. We want gridlock put last, and we want you all to roll 
up your sleeves and get the job done. That was the message.
  So I came to the floor at 2 o'clock, the first minute we opened, to 
claim the floor to say let's begin with trusting each other, moving 
forward, and passing the Keystone Pipeline which is a bill that has 
enjoyed bipartisan support and has the 60 votes on this floor for 
passage.
  There is strong objection from the 40 Members who have been opposed. 
Of course they have a right to be opposed. We debated this for 5 years, 
but the process is let's vote and let the process move forward. I am 
very encouraged that in the 2 hours 15 minutes I have been on the floor 
that the House of Representatives has actually heard this call and has 
decided to introduce--the Rules Committee will be meeting tonight. I 
understand they want to introduce the identical bill to the Hoeven-
Landrieu bill which will give a clear path. It is a stand-alone 
Keystone only with private property rights language that is very 
important to the Republican base but it is also very important to 
Democratic Members, for me, personally, and my State, but for many 
rural States on the Democratic side. We cannot allow international 
companies to expropriate our properties here without due process. It 
cannot happen. I am the strongest advocate of building pipelines 
everywhere, but there are private property rights that have to be 
followed.
  The language carefully drafted by Senator Hoeven and myself respects 
the private property rights of American citizens. I understand the 
House is going to take that language and the straight-up, no 
attachments, no riders, no anything--except for the Keystone language 
as it is written in this file that is pending and pass that out of the 
House.
  We have already made some progress in getting the Keystone project 
built or moving forward. I want to put into the record a couple of 
headlines of magazines and articles that I think help to underline or 
underscore what I am trying to say.
  The ``Science'' magazine editor-in-chief says, ``Time to move forward 
on Keystone Pipeline.''
  LABI: ``Twenty Louisiana Chambers of Commerce support Keystone 
Pipeline.'' This is the Louisiana Association of Business Industry. It 
is a recent headline.
  The Washington Post: ``On the Keystone XL pipeline, put policy ahead 
of politics.'' That is what we are doing today.
  Illinois Review--this is one of the most important. ``AFL-CIO says 
Keystone XL is not just a pipeline but a life line.''
  The largest labor unions in our country have rolled up their sleeves. 
They are in this fight. They are telling us, Democrats and Republicans, 
but mostly to the Democratic Caucus, because they are part of our base, 
vote for the pipeline. This is jobs for average middle-class working 
people that we need. We deserve them, they say, in States such as 
yours, Mr. President, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and in States such 
as Colorado, New Mexico, New York. I could go on and on. In West 
Virginia.
  Remember, my State--not that we don't need good jobs but our 
unemployment rate is very low. We have jobs and opportunities pouring 
into Louisiana and Texas, the energy coast of America. We are proud of 
it.
  We are proud not only to produce these jobs and this energy but we 
are helping to fuel a renaissance of manufacturing in the Midwest. We 
are exceedingly proud of this. We are not just creating jobs for 
ourselves, we are creating jobs for the Midwest, for the manufacturing 
renaissance of America.
  We are allowing for the expansion of the economy on the east coast 
and providing help for the west coast. It is what we do. It is what 
America's energy coast does. No coast does it better than we do.
  We are connecting to a partner, Canada, which is better for us in 
many ways than Venezuela or even some of our friends in the Mideast, 
and we don't--not every friend is our friend in the Mideast. We are 
getting oil from our best friend, our best trading partner, our best 
ally, that has equal economic standards as we do and even some higher 
environmental standards than we do to create economic opportunity for 
our country.
  I wanted to submit this for the record. There are no other Senators 
to speak. I am going to yield the floor in a minute.
  We are still in a time of morning business until votes at 5:30.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be able to 
show a device in the course of my presentation about exploding airbags.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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