[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 28, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S551-S552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WORKING FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, last November the American people sent 
an unmistakable message to Washington, DC. Voters across the country 
said they were tired of the gridlock and they were tired of the lack of 
action by the Democratic-led Senate.
  Well, we are now working again for the American people because voters 
said it was time for a new majority--the Republican majority--to get 
the Senate working again and to get America on a better course. 
Republicans heard the message. We heard it loud and clear, and we have 
been doing exactly what the American people have sent us here to do.
  Under Republican leadership the Senate is working again for the 
American people, and the best example of that is the bill we are 
considering now in the Senate on the Keystone XL Pipeline project. The 
Obama administration has blocked and delayed this job-creating project 
for 6 years. Now Republicans are moving forward. We are moving it 
forward as well. We have had an open debate on the bill, and we have 
allowed amendments to the bill.
  Imagine that. We are actually debating legislation on the floor of 
the Senate, and Senators are actually offering amendments to that bill.
  We are all familiar with the milestone the Senate reached last week. 
Last year, under the Democratic leadership, there were a total of 15 
up-or-down votes on amendments--15 for the entire year under Harry 
Reid. That is all the Democratic leader allowed.
  But by the end of the day last Thursday, we completed our 25th 
amendment vote. Just 22 days into the year, the Senate had already been 
more productive on amendments than it was on 365 days under Democratic 
leadership.
  We didn't stop there. Today the Senate will vote on up to 18 more 
amendments to the Keystone jobs bill and then another 12 after that.
  Several Democratic Senators complained the other day about what they 
said was a lack of amendment votes on this bill. Well, where were they 
last year when the Democratic leader allowed only 15 votes to get an 
up-or-down vote on an amendment for an entire year?

[[Page S552]]

  Senator Schatz and Senator Markey, two Democrats, had never had a 
vote on one of their amendments in the Senate before Republicans gave 
them a vote last week. Senator Coons will get his first vote on an 
amendment today.
  All of these amendments aren't the only way again the Senate is 
working for the American people. Another is going to happen on 
Thursday. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee is going to hold a 
hearing on a bill that I introduced earlier this month.
  We have four Republican sponsors on that bill and four Democratic 
sponsors: Senators Heinrich, Bennet, Heitkamp, and Kaine. It is the LNG 
Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act. Now Senator Toomey, a 
Republican, was added as cosponsor, and Senator Udall, a Democrat, was 
added as cosponsor. So there are five Republican and five Democratic 
cosponsors.
  This is an idea that the House considered last year, and it passed 
with bipartisan support. Forty-six Democrats voted in favor of 
increasing America's exports of liquefied natural gas. The House is 
expected to vote again and pass a bill like this one this week. This is 
an idea that has bipartisan support in the Senate as well. So it should 
be a no-brainer. Plans to send American energy overseas are wrapped up 
in Washington redtape, and Americans who are eager for the jobs on 
these projects continue to wait.
  This bipartisan bill will do a lot to fix that problem. It would set 
clear deadlines for Washington to make timely decisions on these import 
permits--export permits, important permits to export liquefied natural 
gas.
  Once there has been an agreement and an appropriate environmental 
review, the Secretary of Energy will have only 45 days to act on a 
permit application. Increasing American natural gas exports would do 
three important things.
  No. 1, it would create jobs. That is, of course, most important. 
These are American jobs, jobs for Americans. The private sector wants 
to create these jobs--not government jobs but private sector jobs.
  No. 2, it would help to reduce our Nation's trade deficit. The trade 
deficit currently stands at $39 billion.
  No. 3, these exports would support our American allies. Last year 
Russia invaded Ukraine and seized control of Crimea. Why? Largely 
because of the natural gas facilities there.
  There was a group of Senators who were actually in Ukraine. I was one 
of them the day the Russian helicopters landed just north of the gas 
plants there. This was about the gas. Well, we could help reduce the 
threat Russia poses to Europe by offering more options for our allies 
to buy American natural gas.
  There is no good reason for the endless delays on these export 
permits. Our bill would speed up the process. These export projects are 
job creators with bipartisan support. They have been stuck in 
Washington's bureaucrat gridlock.
  The Senate is going to be acting to get these projects moving. That 
is why the American people sent us to the Senate. It is how the Senate 
is supposed to work. Committees consider the ideas on both sides, the 
bills get debated in committee and on the floor, and every Senator has 
a chance to talk about it and then to offer amendments that might 
improve legislation. That is how it has always worked before. It is a 
slow process. It was meant to produce consensus.
  The majority leader, Harry Reid, changed all of that. The Democratic 
majority leader did everything he could to block amendments and to 
bypass and to skip committees. Did he do it to make better laws? No, 
not at all. Did he do it to speed up action so the Senate could be more 
productive? Of course not.
  It was a transparent campaign tactic to keep vulnerable Democratic 
Senators from having to take tough votes. Even Democrats couldn't get 
votes on their amendments. Well, that gimmick by Harry Reid--the 
campaign tricks--failed, and the American people were not fooled.
  That is one of the reasons voters across the country chose 
Republicans to lead both Houses of Congress. The American people said 
they deserve better, and the American people are absolutely right. The 
American people want Democrats to start working with Republicans to get 
things done.
  That is what Senator Heinrich and I--and others who are cosponsoring 
this measure today--are doing with our bill. The American people want 
an honest debate on important issues such as the Keystone jobs bill, as 
well. The American people want their representatives in the Senate to 
be able to offer amendments to bills such as this one.
  That is how the Senate should work. That is how the Senate is working 
under Republican leadership, and that is how it is going to continue to 
work.
  So I am pleased to see the votes are going to be held on these 
amendments. I am pleased to stand and cast my vote on behalf of the 
people of Wyoming. I look forward to more votes, more debate, and more 
consideration of ideas from both sides of the aisle.
  It is interesting that President Obama has threatened to veto eight 
separate pieces of legislation so far this year. It is interesting to 
the point that it has a headline in today's USA Today, page 2A: ``Obama 
veto threats are at record high.'' Veto threats are at a record high.
  The President has said he will veto another two bills that haven't 
even been introduced yet. If they haven't even been introduced, how 
does he know what they are going to say? How does he know what they are 
going to say once they go through the process of being amended, passed 
in the House, passed in the Senate, and get to his desk?
  The President should reconsider each and every one of these veto 
threats.
  The Senate is moving forward. The White House is putting up 
roadblocks. That is not what the American people were asking for in 
November. The American people want us to work together to get things 
done, to make their lives better. It is about them. It is not about the 
people who sit in this body, it is about the American people--their 
quality of life, people living paycheck to paycheck, day to day, what 
their lives are about.

  The Republican Congress and this Senate continue to listen to the 
American people. The President of the United States continues to ignore 
them.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cotton). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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