[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 4, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1274-S1285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE APPROVAL ACT--VETO
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume consideration of the veto message on S.1, which the clerk will
report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Veto message to accompany S. 1, a bill to approve the
Keystone XL Pipeline.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 2:20
p.m. will be equally divided.
Who yields time?
If no one yields time, the time will be divided equally.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, what is the parliamentary order at this
time?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is on the veto message to accompany
S. 1.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, if we could have order in the Senate, I
wish to open debate on S. 1.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will be in order.
The Senator from California.
Mrs. BOXER. I thank the Presiding Officer.
Senator Cantwell will be comanaging this bill, and I thank her very
much for her strong leadership.
The vote that is going to occur at 2:20 p.m. is a very important
vote.
I rise today to oppose the attempt to override President Obama's veto
message of S. 1, the very first bill the Senate majority brought to the
floor.
As I look at this bill, it says to me that the only people who are
helped by this bill are the big Canadian special oil interests.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, the Senate is not in order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will be in order.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, the Keystone Pipeline is presented as
something that is going really to help this economy and help oil
prices. I think the only thing it helps, frankly, are the special
interests in Canada--the special big oil interests--which, by the way,
will carry the filthiest, dirtiest, tar sands oil into our great
Nation.
If we look at the history of the tar sands, we will find that misery
follows the tar sands. We still have terrible problems in Michigan and
Arkansas because there was a spill of this dirty, filthy oil, and they
cannot clean it up because it is so, so difficult to clean.
This is a picture of a tar sands spill in 2013 in Mayflower, AR. That
has not been cleaned up because this is tar sands oil. We had a spill
in Michigan, and we know that since 2011 they have not been able to
clean up that spill. So why would we build a pipeline to bring dirty,
filthy oil into our great Nation and our great communities when we know
the dangers?
Mr. President, I ask again that there be order in the Senate.
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The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will be in order.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I know Senators have an opportunity to
talk to one another, and I appreciate that, but it is hard to make our
thoughts come out right when there is so much talking in the Senate.
I thank the Presiding Officer very much.
Here is the deal. Why on Earth would the Republicans make the first
bill a bill to help Canadian special oil interests that will bring in
tar sands oil and has caused terrible problems for our communities? It
is the hardest oil to clean up. Why would they do it, and why would
they go against public opinion?
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll showed that 61 percent of
Americans support the President's position on this pipeline, which is:
Don't stop the process. Keep it going. Let's see what this does to our
people and to our communities.
I spend a lot of time on environmental issues, and I am saying to you
that as you look at the environmental laws of our great Nation, we find
that they brought such a better quality of life to people. We can turn
that around if we decide at this point--there are all of the challenges
we face in our communities, such as, the challenges of lung disease,
the challenges of heart disease, and the challenges of stroke. That is
what happens from the pollution we get from the tar sands oil.
Earlier I said that misery follows tar sands. I met with the Canadian
people who live near the tar sands excavation site. They have terrible
rates of cancer.
The bottom line is that because of climate change--and we see it all
around us. Just the other day we learned a remote Alaskan village has
to be relocated due to climate. We know the impact of this dirty tar
sands oil on that, and we know what happens when the tar sands pipeline
spills. We know all of these things.
I think the President is right by allowing the process to continue.
He was very right to veto this bill, and I hope we will have enough
votes to sustain his veto.
I yield the floor for my friend Senator Cantwell.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues not to
override the President's veto of this special-interest piece of
legislation.
I wish to thank my colleague from California for her leadership on
this issue and for her constant involvement in making sure that
national environmental and safety standards are adhered to. She has
been a great advocate throughout this process and I very much
appreciate her voice as we close the debate about the Keystone Pipeline
legislation.
This bill to approve the Keystone Pipeline undermines a well-
established process for determining what is in the national interests.
If we overrode the President's veto, we would be subverting safety and
environmental standards that are important to the American people.
I am glad the President vetoed this legislation, and I urge my
colleagues not to override the decision. I think the President's veto
message said it best:
Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to
circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining
whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline
serves the national interest.
. . . And because this act of Congress conflicts with
established executive branch procedures and cuts short
thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our
national interest--including our security, safety, and
environment--it has earned my veto.
So the President sums it up pretty much, I think. Why circumvent the
process? The people who have been advocates for the pipeline have been
circumventing the process all the way through. They circumvented the
process by not going through the utility commission in their State, the
public utility commission, and instead wrote legislation around that.
That legislation has been challenged in court. The rest of it has been
an enormous process here in Washington, DC. While the company was
negotiating with the State Department, it was also supporting efforts
to circumvent that process at the State Department and just get a
rubberstamp on their permit, saying ``project approved.'' I think this
project, as does every other project in the United States of America,
should follow the rules.
While we spent the better part of January considering this
legislation, there were other events that transpired. We heard a lot
about the routing and that it was a settled matter. Since January, it
is worth noting that Nebraska landowners have taken new steps to defend
their rights as private property owners. On January 9, 2015, the
Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a special carveout of TransCanada to site
the Keystone XL Pipeline. They did this even though four judges who
addressed the question said this carveout was unconstitutional.
After the setback, several landowners whose property would be seized
along the proposed route filed a new suit and hopefully stopped the
seizure of their land. Last month--just this past February--two
Nebraska district courts have issued temporary injunctions enjoining
TransCanada's effort to acquire rights of way to support the Keystone
Pipeline by eminent domain. So at this moment here in the Senate, with
the vote imminent, the pipeline's route through Nebraska is still in
doubt because the new lawsuit challenges the Governor's ability to
approve it.
It is also worth noting that South Dakota will hold a new hearing on
the proposed route of the pipeline through their State in May. At this
time we simply don't know whether South Dakota will make the same
decision it did when it first approved the route 3 years ago. The
situation in Nebraska and South Dakota makes it clear that even if this
bill were to become law, the Keystone Pipeline will not get built any
time soon.
I know my colleagues would like to rush the process, and they will
talk about all of the various steps in the process where this project
got delayed. But who said building a pipeline through the United States
of America by a foreign interest should get ``expedited approval''
stamped on it from the very beginning? That is what they have done.
They have circumvented what is the process in the State, which should
have been through the utilities commission, and they have tried to
circumvent the process here in the Senate.
So I hope we will not override the President's veto, but give the
President of the United States the ability to still consider these
national interests of the environment and security.
We had a pretty robust debate here on the Senate floor, and many of
the issues that would have been important my colleagues voted to say we
shouldn't consider--environmental issues. So I get that on the other
side of the aisle, there are people who want to give a pass-go, a
speedy permit to this process. I urge my colleagues to not override the
President, but allow him to do the homework that is needed on security,
on the environment, and on making sure that due process is followed.
I ask my colleagues to not override the President's veto.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I came here to speak on another topic, but
let me interject in light of the comments from our colleagues from
across the aisle on the Keystone XL Pipeline. Everybody says, on a
bipartisan basis, We want job-creating legislation. We want to
facilitate the creation of new jobs here in America. When it comes to
voting, our friends across the aisle seem to be stuck on voting against
job-creating legislation, because our State Department has estimated
that as many as 42,000 jobs would be created by the construction of the
Keystone XL Pipeline.
The thing that mystifies me the most about this debate is at last
count, we had roughly 2.5 million miles of pipelines crisscrossing
America. I have come to the floor before and I have suggested that
people might want to do a search on their laptop or on their tablet for
oil and gas pipelines, and they will see a map of those pipelines, and
it looks like a spaghetti bowl, because they are everywhere. Indeed, we
also know this is the most efficient and the safest way to transport
natural gas and crude as well.
So I remain mystified by the fact that the President and many in his
party seem determined to try to kill what is clearly job-creating,
energy-
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providing legislation that would be from a friendly source.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Speech To Congress
Mr. President, turning to the Middle East, yesterday, as we all know,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered what can only be
characterized as a powerful and important message about the common
threats to the national security of Israel and the United States.
Again, only in Washington would a speech such as this be controversial.
I think most people would be concerned enough about the subject matter
of what he talked about that they would want to hear the insights and
information he delivered in that speech. It was a powerful and
important message, and really a call to arms for the United States and
our allies in Israel against the threat of radical Islam, particularly
in the form of Iranian terrorism.
His words reminded me why--as I know many on both sides of the aisle
agree--we have no closer Middle Eastern ally than Israel.
Unfortunately, his speech also reinforced the belief I have held for
many years that we have no bigger adversary in the Middle East than
Iran.
The cold, hard truth is that today, more than ever, Iran is a terror-
sponsoring theocracy that is actively pursuing a nuclear weapons
capability and trying to establish an Iranian axis of power from Tehran
to Damascus to Beirut to Gaza. Iran claims a right to enrich uranium
for peaceful purposes, but its leaders have routinely lied and
attempted to deceive inspectors in the past as a matter of standard
practice.
Prime Minister Netanyahu also reminded all of us whose memories might
have dimmed that over the last 30 years, Iran has engaged in a war by
proxy against the United States and our allies. I was reminded by a
member of my staff of an article that came out in 2011 in the National
Journal. The heading of it is: ``Record Number of U.S. Troops Killed by
Iranian Weapons.'' It tells the tragic story that June of 2011 was the
deadliest month in 2 years for U.S. troops, with 14 killed. These were
primarily by Iranian-backed militias using very deadly weapons called
explosively formed penetrators that could literally cut through the
steel in our humvees and other armored vehicles like a hot knife
through butter.
So given this track record that we were reminded of by the Prime
Minister yesterday, and just the remainder that I have tried to provide
here with this article, do we really believe that Iran would use its
nuclear weapons in a way that would not make the world more unstable
and less safe? Do we really believe that Iran, were they to get a
nuclear weapon, won't give it to the same proxies that have been
killing Americans and our allies in the Middle East and around the
world, including the Shia militia, Hezbollah, Hamas, or the dictator in
Syria, Bashar al-Assad, who has now killed roughly 200,000 of his own
civilians in a civil war, and with almost 13 million people displaced
not only internally, within Syria, but in neighboring countries and the
like?
So as the P5+1 negotiations involving the United States continue,
there remain serious questions about Iran's true nuclear intentions and
about whether the deal the Obama administration is eagerly finalizing--
whether it will cement Iran's status as a nuclear threshold nation.
Based on some of the details we know so far, many of which are being
held very close to the vest by the administration and not being made
known to Congress, much less the American people, the President's deal
would abandon longstanding U.S. policy of preventing a nuclear-armed
Iran, period.
I remember when the former Secretary of Defense, Senator Hagel at the
time--he became the Secretary of the Department of Defense--when asked
about our policy toward Iran, stumbled a little bit in his answer but
ultimately said that containment was not our policy. Our policy was to
prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. But it appears now that the
deal that is being negotiated on the President's behalf by Secretary
Kerry would abandon that longstanding U.S. policy of preventing Iran
from getting a nuclear weapon. Instead, it would opt for a feeble 10-
year containment plan. Such an outcome would be both dangerous and
unacceptable.
So while I was glad to hear Leader McConnell announce yesterday that
the Senate will soon consider bipartisan legislation that would give
Congress the authority to approve any agreement that is reached by the
administration, that was quickly replaced by confusion when I read that
some of my Democratic colleagues, who have shown great courage in
urging that Congress have a role in approving any negotiated agreement
between Tehran and the White House--now they are suggesting they might
filibuster their own bill and the vote we are going to have at 5:30 on
Monday.
Yesterday, for example, one of our colleagues who had been a key
sponsor of this bipartisan legislation said that he was outraged--
outraged--that the Senate would vote on the very bill that bears his
name. He indicated his outrage with the Senate not for voting on the
substance of the bill, but basically because of the timing. He thought
the timing was wrong. In other words, he opposes voting on his own bill
because of the Senate procedures and the process. I don't know how we
explain that back home. I couldn't sell that to my constituents in
Texas, saying, I am a sponsor of this legislation; I think it is
important and the right thing to do, but I am going to vote against it
because I disagree with the majority leader's timing, or the procedure
by which the majority leader is bringing this to a vote and debate in
the U.S. Senate. Good luck explaining that to our constituents.
I suspect who is also not concerned with the process are the Israeli
Government and the millions of innocent civilians who stared down an
Iranian regime bent upon their annihilation every day. I suspect they
could care less about the process. What they want to do is to stop Iran
from getting the bomb.
So I sincerely hope everyone here who has supported Israel and
embraced a policy of blocking Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon will
calm down and work together and consider this important piece of
legislation. Because as we heard yesterday, again, from Prime Minister
Netanyahu, it has profound implications for both our national security
as well as the security of our best ally in the Middle East.
Before the Obama administration initiated these misguided
negotiations, Congress had created incredible economic pressure on the
regime in Tehran through sanctions backed by the threat of military
action. It also has helped, frankly, that America is now producing more
oil, and the price of oil is now down around $50 a barrel, more or
less. That has put incredible financial pressure on Tehran itself,
because they have basically had to finance their terrorist ambitions
around the world through these various proxies by use of high oil
prices. But we had imposed tremendous sanctions on Tehran, which, of
course, the administration is now in the process of rolling back.
I believe an approach of tough sanctions is one we must return to as
quickly as possible. The President and some of his friends have
suggested it is either this deal or war. That is a false choice. That
is not true. It is either this deal or tougher sanctions, sanctions
designed along with the credible threat of military action if Tehran
continues on its path to get a nuclear weapon that I believe will
ultimately have the best chance of success and deter them from getting
it.
The concept of good-faith negotiation, though, strikes me as a little
implausible when you are dealing with the rogue regime and state-
sponsored terrorism. We simply cannot trust the Iranian leadership with
nuclear weapons. Yet, sadly, the President seems to be traveling down a
path to secure what he views as a legacy foreign policy accomplishment
when he should be implementing an Iran policy that would best safeguard
America and our allies for years to come.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, protecting the President's veto of the
Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act is about protecting the review
process for this project. The President deserves to have all of the
input from the different agencies delivered to him so he can make his
decision.
Today in the vote that we will be having shortly, we are saying the
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President should be able to exercise his prerogative to review the
pipeline and to decide whether it is in the national interest to have
this pipeline constructed through the United States of America. But we
are also protecting his prerogative to decide in the end, because this
is a pipeline that should be rejected on its merits.
The pipeline fails the test on job creation. After it is built, it
will only have 35 to 40 permanent jobs that the United States will have
on its soil. Meanwhile, we should be having a debate about the wind
production tax credit because if we extended that, we would keep 30,000
people working permanently here in the United States, as this wind
revolution continues to explode. Last year, there were 5,000 megawatts
of solar energy installed in the United States. That is like five huge
powerplants. This year 7,500 megawatts, at least, of solar are going to
be installed in the United States. And next year 10,000 megawatts, at
least, in solar are going to be installed. But that tax break is
expiring at the end of 2016. You would think there would be an urgency
here on the floor of the Senate to debate the wind tax break and the
solar tax break which will create upwards of 250,000 jobs in the United
States.
We already have 175,000 people working in the solar industry, but
there is no urgency to take up wind and solar. But a pipeline from
Canada taking the dirtiest oil in the world, tar sands--tar. Think
about that, tar. The tar has to be actually melted down so it can be
put into a pipeline. It is tar, the dirtiest oil in the world, and then
a pipeline like a straw through the United States of America, built
right down to Port Arthur, TX
What is so unique about Port Arthur, TX? I will tell you right now.
It is a tax-free export zone, and so there is the plan for the
Canadians--build a pipeline like a straw through the United States,
right down to a tax-free export zone, and then get that oil out of the
United States of America.
Why is that? I will tell you right now that the price for oil in the
United States is now $12 less than it is if you can get it out onto the
global market. Per barrel, $12 less. You don't have to go to Harvard
Business School to get a degree to put that business plan on a 3-by-5
card. Get it out of the United States, and you will make $12 a barrel
more.
The advocates for the pipeline say that is not going to happen. That
is why I made the amendment on the Senate floor. The oil will not be
exported. If we are going to take all of the environmental risks, then
we should receive the benefits of the oil being here in the United
States.
Why is that important? It is important for this reason: We are--the
United States is--the largest importer of oil in the world. China does
not import as much oil as we do. We are the leader. You might see these
ads on television where the American Petroleum Institute and other oil
companies advertise that with regard to what a great job we are doing
in producing more oil in the United States. And we are producing more
oil in the United States. Let's take note of that. The truth is we are
still 5 million barrels a day short. This pipeline will be moving maybe
800,000 barrels of oil from Canada right through the United States,
which could reduce our dependence upon imported oil, but it is going
through a tax-free export zone. So we know what is going to happen.
Why is that important? It is important because we export young men
and women in uniform every single day to the Middle East to protect the
ships with oil coming into the United States that we import from
Kuwait, from Saudi Arabia, from the other countries around the world.
So why would we be exporting oil out of the United States while we are
exporting young men and women in uniform out of America who then
protect oil coming back in from countries in the Middle East? That
makes no sense.
That is what this pipeline is all about. It is all about getting some
benefit for the United States. Climate change, big loser. It is the
dirtiest oil in the world. The Canadians actually escape paying the tax
in the event that there is an oilspill. They don't have to pay into
that fund, either, that American oil companies do. And then
notwithstanding their ads on television that say they are going to keep
the oil in the United States, they bitterly object to any provision
being voted here that keeps it in the United States while they run ads
on television saying North American energy independence, that is their
greatest goal.
You can't have it both ways. Life is not like that. Either your ads
are saying what your goal is, North American energy independence, or
you are going to export it. But you can't have it both ways, do one
thing on television and then another thing in real life and say to the
Senate, please don't put any restrictions on our ability to export this
oil. That is the challenge for us here.
By the way, one other thing. If we keep the oil here in the United
States, that is going to keep a pressure to keep the price of gasoline
lower, because the more oil we have here in the United States, the
lower the price of gasoline. Every time there is a 1-penny reduction in
the price of gasoline, it is $1 billion that goes into the pocket of
consumers in America. One penny equals a billion. So when the price of
oil, gasoline, drops 10 cents, that is $10 billion. When it drops $1,
that is $100 billion. It is down by $1. It is down by more than $1 over
where it was this time last year. That is a lot of money that goes as a
stimulus into the pockets of Americans who can spend it on other
things. But this oil is going out of the country, so the pressure it
would keep to help our manufacturers, to help our drivers, is not going
to exist. It fails on each one of these items: One, it gets exported.
Two, they don't pay their full taxes, or any at all, to the Oilspill
Liability Fund. We don't keep it here to keep the price lower for
American drivers. I understand the Canadians want to make the most
money by getting out of the open market. That hurts you. That hurts us.
That hurts our drivers. That is the challenge.
It fails each one of these tests. It fails on the climate change. It
fails on the export test because it goes overseas. It fails on the tax
issue. It fails on the process issue of trying to short-circuit the
President's prerogative to be able to consider this in a comprehensive
sense.
The President has correctly vetoed this bill. The President is
standing up for the American taxpayer, for the American consumer, for
the environment of the United States. He is asking the right questions.
He is doing the right things.
I urge my colleagues here on the Senate floor, within the next hour,
to vote to sustain the veto of President Obama on this policy which
does not advance the best interests of the United States of America.
I yield back the remainder of my time.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. MARKEY. 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. MARKEY. I ask unanimous consent that all time within the quorum
call be divided equally between the two sides.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Human Trafficking
Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I rise to speak about human sex
trafficking--an issue that plagues the world and our Nation. Today I
join my colleagues, Senators Cornyn, Wyden, Klobuchar, and King, in
supporting legislation to help fight this evil and to stop it from
spreading. Sex trafficking is real. It is affecting millions of people
around the world. We should not tolerate it, and we cannot turn a blind
eye. This modern-day form of slavery has continued to grow in the
shadows all around us. It is time to take action.
The scale of this problem is difficult to calculate; yet many
estimates, including those from the United Nations and various human
rights organizations, show that millions of human
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beings are being trafficked every year. Meanwhile, the criminals who
force these victims into slavery profit to the tune of $32 billion
annually.
Mr. President, 300,000 children right here in the United States are
at risk of becoming victims of this vile practice. Teenagers are the
primary targets. These kids are being sold into a life of physical and
emotional abuse. Often they are runaways who flee violent households
looking for a way out. Women and girls represent a disproportionate
amount of those trafficked around the world, but this does affect all
of us. The pain and suffering victims experience is hard to describe in
words. Simply put, it is evil. We must do more to stop this plague, and
our work begins by setting a clear example.
This Sunday we will commemorate International Women's Day. As we
celebrate the progress women have made here in the United States and
around the world, we must also use this moment to remind ourselves of
the work that still needs to be done.
As I mentioned, Senator Cornyn and I, along with several of our
colleagues, introduced a new bill to address this issue. This
legislation would set up a deficit-neutral fund to support people
abused by sex trafficking. Through enhanced reporting and mechanisms
that would reduce demand, this bill can serve as the next step in
providing care for victims of trafficking and child pornography.
Furthermore, Senator Cornyn's bill protects victims in courts by
treating the traffickers as violent criminals. By labeling traffickers
in this way, convicts can now be detained while they await their
judicial proceeding. Funding for the bill comes from increased fines
placed on those convicted of trafficking.
While nothing can erase the pain inflicted on these victims, we must
do what we can to make a difference. I encourage all of my colleagues
to join in this effort and stand against this vile practice.
A number of my colleagues have other bills as well. We should take
the time to consider solutions that are offered by all of them. Our
government has a responsibility to stand up and to act for those whose
voices grow weak in the shadows of this imperfect world. This is our
moment to do something. These victims do not have time to wait. We must
act now.
I ask unanimous consent that all time spent in quorum calls before
the 2:20 vote this afternoon be equally divided.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. FISCHER. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. 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. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
150th Anniversary of the Second Inaugural Address of President Lincoln
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today is the 150th anniversary of the
second inaugural address of President Abraham Lincoln. Later on this
evening there will be an observance in the Rotunda sponsored by the
Illinois State Society and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation
to observe this anniversary. My colleague Senator Kirk is scheduled to
be there; former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; Stephen Lang; and
some of the most distinguished Lincoln scholars in America: Dr. Edna
Greene Medford, Chief Justice Frank Williams of Rhode Island, and the
most prolific Lincoln writer I know, Harold Holzer from New York.
There have been 15,000 books written about Abraham Lincoln. I think
Mr. Holzer has written about half of them. He is not only prolific, but
he is profound in his observations about this great man's life. He was
joined by Edith Holzer, his wife, who stood by him through his Lincoln
travails.
Historians disagree on whether the second inaugural address of
Abraham Lincoln was his greatest speech or his second greatest. I am in
the latter camp. I accord that highest honor to the Gettysburg Address
for its brevity as well as its inspiration, but both speeches are
immortal.
I am not a Lincoln scholar, but my life as a Springfield attorney,
elected Congressman, and Senator from Illinois has taken me to some of
the same streets and same buildings that were part of Abraham Lincoln's
life.
Although he tried mightily to be elected to the Senate in 1858,
Abraham Lincoln fell short. It was in that campaign of 1858 that he
debated Stephen Douglas. At the end of the debates and when the votes
were cast, Stephen Douglas was the victor in that senatorial contest in
Illinois. Of course, the same two men faced off again 2 years later for
the Presidency. But that Senate seat, the Douglas seat that was
contested in the 1858 election, is the same seat I am honored to hold
today in the State of Illinois.
We can feel Abraham Lincoln's presence in this building, particularly
near the Senate Chamber. There is a magnificent room off the Senate
Chamber known as the President's Room. It is one of the historic rooms
in the Capitol.
It was in this room in April of 1862 that President Lincoln signed
the bill outlawing slavery in the District of Columbia. It was in this
room in 1965 that Dr. Martin Luther King and other leaders watched
Lyndon Baines Johnson sign the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting
discrimination at the polls--100 years after Lincoln's death. It was in
the same room on January 20, 2009, that a newly inaugurated President
Barack Obama signed his first official documents as President of the
United States. And it was in this room that Abraham Lincoln worked long
into the night before his second inauguration, signing and vetoing
bills passed in the final hours of one Congress, before the next
Congress was sworn in. Imagine that, Congress leaving important
business until the last minute.
President Lincoln was working in the President's Room on March 3,
1865, when he received an urgent message from GEN Ulysses Grant. GEN
Robert E. Lee was seeking a peace conference to negotiate an end to the
war. Grant asked the President, his Commander in Chief: What should I
reply?
After conferring with Secretary of War Stanton and Secretary of State
Seward, Lincoln sent word back to General Grant that he was not to meet
with Lee ``unless it be for the capitulation of General Lee's army.''
The following day, in his second inaugural address, March 4, 1865,
Lincoln explained more fully why he had refused Lee's request for a
negotiated settlement. He said: ``With firmness in the right as God
gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are
in.''
Less than 5 weeks later, General Lee surrendered unconditionally at
Appomattox. The cannons would fall silent. After 4 years of horrific
death and destruction, the worst war and the most costly war in the
history of the United States was over. But the work was not.
President Lincoln told us in his second inaugural address the urgent
challenge is not only to win the war, but to win the peace by achieving
true reconciliation. Another President could certainly have been
vindictive toward the South--that had been the practice of the day and
it is what many people wanted in the North--but Lincoln understood that
if America remained divided after the hostilities ceased, then the
terrible sacrifices of war would have been in vain. So he counseled in
that immortal inaugural address: ``With malice toward none, charity for
all.'' Let us bind up the wounds here, and not inflict new injuries.
That was how the Union would be reunited and persevere.
Six weeks later after this speech, Abraham Lincoln was cut down by an
assassin's bullet. He was, in fact, the last casualty of America's war
within its own boundaries.
That address, that second inaugural address, remains the second
shortest in the Nation's history, only 703 words. Lincoln spoke so
briefly that many people were still arriving after he finished. As at
Gettysburg, some listeners were mystified by the President's brevity.
Few understood the genius of the speech at that moment. Frederick
Douglass was an exception. He said to Mr. Lincoln afterwards, ``Mr.
Lincoln, that was a sacred effort.''
In the century and a half since his death, we have made uneven
progress in achieving the kind of America Abraham Lincoln believed we
could be. A
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full century passed before African Americans in the South were
guaranteed the most basic right of citizenship, the right to vote.
If President Lincoln were here today, I think he would be happy to
see how our Union has survived. I think he would be pleased and
astonished to see that America had elected and reelected another lanky
lawyer from Illinois, and an African American, to be our President.
I also think he would challenge us. When our government ``of the
people, by the people, for the people'' is under threat from a cabal of
secret, special interest money that can buy elections, I think
President Lincoln would tell us we have unfinished work to do.
When we neglect to bind up the wounds of war of even one soldier
returning from war, and neglect to care for widows and orphans, Lincoln
would have reminded us that we have unfinished work to do.
And when the right to vote is under systematic attack in so many
States for obvious political reasons, there is still work to do.
When Americans who work long and hard can't earn enough to provide
for their families, I think Lincoln would tell us to put our shoulder
to the plough and finish the work of creating a genuine opportunity for
all Americans.
We can see in the second inaugural and in the Gettysburg Address one
reason that Abraham Lincoln remains our greatest President. He shows us
that America is capable of constant progress toward our professed
creed. We can love our country and be determined to make it better.
Tribute to Bill Bartholomay
Mr. President, even by Chicago standards, this has been some winter.
From Boston to Birmingham, AL, tens of millions of Americans have been
clobbered this winter by record snowfalls. In fact, we are heading for
the exits in Washington this afternoon with the threat of another
winter storm.
That may be why so many of us are so happy this week is finally here
and we can literally count the days until spring training of baseball
begins. In cities throughout the Sun Belt, mighty Casey is smiling
again. More than Punxsutawney Phil or the sighting of the first robin,
spring training for many of us marks the unofficial arrival of spring.
Few people on Earth are happier about the start of the baseball
season than Bill Bartholomay, a man who has done so much for the cities
of Chicago and Atlanta, for the sport of baseball, and for our Nation.
Bill Bartholomay has achieved more in his one life than many talented
people in five. He is phenomenally successful as an entrepreneur, and
he has built some of the most successful insurance brokerage firms in
the world. Bill has owned a restaurant, a candy company, and a chain of
toy stores.
He helped a friend and business partner by the name of Ted Turner
transform CNN from an upstart news station to one of the most powerful
news organizations in the world.
Bill Bartholomay is more than a successful businessman, he is a
principled civic leader and a true philanthropist. On top of all that,
he is chairman emeritus of the Atlanta Braves. He is a man who half a
century ago, with support from leaders, including the father of the
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., brought Major League Baseball to
America's Deep South. What a life.
In 1962, Bill Bartholomay and a group of investors bought the
Milwaukee Braves. The Braves roster then included a lot of great
legendary ballplayers. Among them was a young catcher with a rocket for
an arm whose mother had to sign his first major league contract because
he hadn't reached the age of 21. His name was Joe Torre. But the Braves
greatest player then and ever was a man named Henry Aaron, ``Hammerin'
Hank.''
In 1966, Bill Bartholomay and his partners moved the Braves from
Milwaukee to Atlanta. Here is something that will do your heart good.
Go to YouTube and watch the video of that magic night, April 8, 1974,
when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record to become baseball's all-time
home-run champ, a record he would hold for 33 years. For anyone under
the age of 50, it may be impossible now to fully appreciate what that
moment meant.
It was 6 years almost to the day after Dr. King's assassination. For
more than a year, as Hank Aaron had closed in on Babe Ruth's fabled
record of 714 home runs, he had been cheered by many, but also
subjected to ugly racist threats and taunts. There were people who just
seethed at the idea that Babe Ruth's immortal record would be broken by
a Black baseball player.
Years later, Hank Aaron would acknowledge that the anger and the
jeers wore on him. They worried Bill Bartholomay too.
So watch that clip on YouTube, April 8, 1974. It was the Braves home
opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. More than 53,000 fans were
standing for that great moment--a record crowd.
It is the fourth inning. Henry ``Hank'' Aaron is up at bat. The count
is 1 and 0. And then it happens: Aaron swings and smashes the ball over
the center field fence.
The fans roar. Fireworks fill the sky over the stadium. As Aaron
rounds the bases, the Dodgers infielders reach out to shake his hand.
He crosses homeplate, surrounded by teammates, his beaming wife, and
parents. And standing right next to him was Bill Bartholomay.
It had been a dozen years since Bill and his partners had bought the
Braves and 8 years since they moved to Atlanta. Part of their reason
for moving the Braves to Atlanta was because Atlanta was working hard
in the 1960s to become the leading city of the new South, a city that
would move beyond the old legacy of Jim Crow to a new era.
Leaders, including Dr. King, believed that Major League Baseball
could help to create that new Atlanta, and Bill Bartholomay and his
partners wanted to be part of that dream. Eight years after he moved
the team to Atlanta, there he stood with baseball's new home-run king,
a man who had started his career in the old Negro League, who had just
broken the most revered record in Major League Baseball and who would
become a symbol of immense pride for Atlanta and all of America. That
was one of the many great moments for the Braves under Bill
Bartholomay.
Since he moved the team to Atlanta in 1966, Bill has witnessed the
Braves winning 16 division championships, including a record-setting 14
in a row, 5 National League pennants. And in 1995 the Braves went all
the way, winning the World Series.
Bill no longer owns the Braves, but he is still closely connected to
the team and has served as the chairman emeritus since 2003. He is an
active member of the MLB owners group.
Bill Bartholomay grew up in Illinois in a family where his father and
grandfather had made good money in the insurance brokerage business. He
was the second of two boys, and he grew up in Winnetka, IL, just
outside of Chicago, in a big house. The Bartholomay family were friends
with both the Wrigley family, who owned the Chicago Cubs, and the
Comiskey family, who owned the White Sox.
As far back as he can remember, Bill loved baseball and so did his
mom. They used to go to Cubs games together.
At North Shore Country Day School, his eighth grade phys ed
instructor thought Bill loved baseball a little too much. He sent home
a report card that said:
Billy is very cooperative in play activities. While his
ability is not great, he makes up to a large degree by his
enthusiasm and interest. My greatest concern with him is that
he seems to borrow much of his ideas of conduct from
professional baseball.
That teacher needn't have worried. The lessons of baseball have
served Bill Bartholomay very well. They have inspired and shaped his
entire amazing life.
One of Bill's favorite sayings is: ``Start strong, finish strong and
play all nine innings.'' Translation: Give it everything you have got--
no half measures.
That attitude has enabled Bill to build or even help build a number
of powerful insurance brokerage firms, along with other diverse
businesses.
In 2003, he became vice chairman of Willis Group Holdings, one of the
largest insurance brokers in the world. He increased their presence in
Chicago to the point where they became the regional headquarters of
what was formerly known as Sears Tower, now
[[Page S1280]]
known as the Willis Tower. Today that office anchors Chicago's place as
a first-rate place to operate a global company.
Bill is more than a businessman, more than a man of baseball; he is a
civic leader as well. In the early 1980s, then-Chicago mayor, the late
James Byrne, asked Bill to serve on the park commission, overseeing
Chicago's 400 parks. Bill never said no to public service. So even
though he had five teenaged kids and a number of businesses, he said he
would serve for 1 year. He ended up serving for 23 years, including
many as commission chairman.
All told, three of Chicago's mayors recognized Bill's talents as a
bridge builder in Chicago. He made sure the commission focused not only
on the wealthy parts of the city but all of the city.
Bill created a charitable foundation and he has helped to make it
work and helped millions of others. He is a generous man and he is
generous in praise of others.
I wish to give a short story that I read when I was reading a book
one day and stumbled on this little episode in Bill's life that really
tells a story. It is a story about another baseball legend, a man by
the name of Satchel Paige, who may have been the best baseball pitcher
ever. He was an American treasure.
He was a star in the Negro Leagues during the Jim Crow era. He later
became the first African-American pitcher in the American League and
the first Negro League player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He played for an astonishing 250 teams in his 40-year career. He used
to pitch year around, often on back-to-back days. He hurled exhibition
games on his day off. He spent the winter months playing in Cuba, the
Dominican Republic, and Mexico.
In 1968 Satchel Paige was 62 years old, and despite all the time he
had played in baseball, he hadn't played long enough to qualify for a
pension. He fell 6 months short. So Satchel Paige sent a letter to
every Major League Baseball team asking them if they would consider
hiring him as a coach, and if they would for 6 months, he would qualify
for a pension.
Well, you can guess who replied. It was Bill Bartholomay. Bill
Bartholomay, in a real true act of kindness, said: ``Baseball would
have been guilty of negligence should it not assure this legendary
figure a place in the pension plan.''
Bill made sure Satchel Paige got his pension. He hired him to be the
Braves' pitcher-coach-trainer just long enough for him to meet his
pension needs. In case there was any doubt about what he was doing, he
assigned Satchel Paige the number 65, the age at which his retirement
salary would kick in.
But there was another reason the Braves hired Satchel Paige. That
summer--the summer of 1968--riots were raging and cities were burning
across America in the wake of Dr. King's assassination. Bill
Bartholomay believed that having a bridge builder such as Satchel Paige
might help diffuse tensions in Atlanta, and he was right.
Satchel did that partly by signing autographs and spending time with
fans and serving as a good will ambassador. Even though his title was
trainer, what Satchel Paige really wanted to do, even at age 62, was
pitch. The club didn't care for the idea. They were afraid his eyesight
wasn't good enough and a line drive might knock him off the mound, but
Satchel insisted. He said he could tell by the crack of the bat where
the ball was headed.
In 1969, Satchel Paige pitched a couple of innings in an exhibition
game for the Braves' highest level minor league team, the Triple-A
Richmond team. So picture this: Satchel Paige on the mound beaming, and
who steps up to the plate? Hank Aaron. The best pitcher in baseball
history against the best hitter.
Strike one, strike two, and finally Hank Aaron swings hard, gets a
piece of the ball and pops out to third. Old Satchel still had it.
In his 1966 Hall of Fame induction speech, Ted Williams urged the
inclusion of Negro League players to the Hall of Fame. Satchel Paige
was elected as the first Negro League player to be inducted.
Satchel Paige once said: ``Ain't no man can avoid being born average,
but there ain't no man got to be common.''
Bill Bartholomay has led an uncommonly good life as a business
leader, as a pioneer in baseball, as a civic leader, as a
philanthropist, and as a man who sensed in his lifetime an opportunity
to build bridges in America and make us a better nation through the
game of baseball and through the integration of that sport. He served
the cities of Chicago and Atlanta in an extraordinary way, but he
served America as well. He proved his old phys ed instructor from grade
school wrong by showing that the rules of baseball are pretty good
rules for life after all.
On this day, as we start spring training and a new baseball season, I
wish the very best to the very best--Bill Bartholomay.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. MERKLEY. 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. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I rise today to address the motion to
override the President's veto of S. 1, which would force approval of
the construction of the Keystone Pipeline to transport tar sands heavy
oil from Canada to the gulf coast. We will be having that vote in just
a while from now.
My key consideration today is this. What would the impact of this
bill be on global warming? The reason that is the core question I am
raising is that already we are seeing extensive damage to our rural
resources around the world from our warming planet. We are seeing this
in Oregon, and we are seeing, therefore, an impact on our future
economic prospects.
To put it very simply, the burning of fossil fuels is damaging our
forests, our farming, and our fishing. By many estimates, to contain 2
degrees Celsius, which is almost 4 degrees Fahrenheit, we must
transition aggressively and rapidly from burning conventional fossil
fuels for energy toward the use of nonfossil renewable energy.
Now, this shift is well within our power. It is well within our
technology. But do we have the political will to make this happen? And
that test is before us in the vote we are taking today.
Building the Keystone Pipeline opens the faucet to rapid exploitation
of massive, new, unconventional reserves called tar sands, and it takes
us in exactly the opposite direction from where we need to go. Indeed,
the pipeline locks us into utilizing the dirtiest fossil fuels on the
planet for a generation, and it accelerates human civilization down the
road towards catastrophic climate change. Thus, building this pipeline
is a mistake, and there is a lot to be concerned about.
Now, global warming isn't some imaginary scenario 50 years from now
about some computer model predicting something bad will happen. No, it
is about facts on the ground right now.
The warmest 10 years on record for global average surface temperature
have occurred in the last 12 years. And 2014, the calendar year we just
passed, was the single warmest year on record. While some Senators may
come to this floor and say that it is just an anomaly here or an
anomaly there, it is not. The facts are in. When we have 10 of the
warmest years on record within the last 12 years, we know something
dramatically is happening to the globe.
The average forest fire season is getting longer. Since the 1980s the
season has grown 60 to 80 days longer than it was before. That means
that with each year passing the fire season is growing by an average of
about 2 days, and the number of acres consumed annually by wildfires
has doubled to more than 7 million acres. This is an enormous impact,
and those fires themselves put additional carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere. So we start to see a feedback mechanism that is
accelerating us down this road to catastrophic change.
The snowpack is decreasing in our Oregon mountains, the Cascade
Mountains, which means smaller and warmer streams, which are certainly
not good for trout. But it also means less water for irrigation. We
have right now virtually no snow in the Cascades. At this point we
should have a substantial snowpack. So the possibility of yet another
major drought faces us this coming summer.
We had the worst-ever drought in the Klamath Basin, a large
agricultural
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basin in southern Oregon, in 2001. We had another devastating drought
in 2010--a near worst-ever drought--and another devastating drought in
2013. And here we are this year, with virtually no snowpack to provide
irrigation water during the summer. That is a very big deal.
It isn't just farming and forestry. It is also fishing. The carbon
dioxide that we are pumping into the air is absorbed through wave
action. It becomes carbonic acid. We can envision mankind pouring vast
vats of carbonic acids into the ocean, because that is essentially the
effect of what we are doing. If you think putting all that acid into
the ocean wouldn't be a good idea and would have bad effects, you are
right. The ocean has become 30 percent more acidic than it was before
the industrial revolution--before we started burning coal and other
fossil fuels as a major source of energy--and we can start to see the
impact.
At the Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery on the Oregon coast, we have
a big problem. The big problem is that the baby oysters are having
trouble pulling enough carbon out of the water in order to create their
shells because the water is too acidic. That is a little bit like the
canary in the coal mine. If the oysters are having trouble, what other
shellfish are being affected by the increasing level of acidity?
As humans on our planet, we have the moral responsibility to exercise
wise stewardship of our resources--a responsibility to this generation
but a profound responsibility to the generations to come.
Now, our youth tend to have a better understanding of this than do
the lawmakers who come to the floor of the Senate. Our youth widely
rank global warming as a major concern, a major issue they want to see
us take on. They will face the challenges that we will leave behind.
But here is the problem: If we wait to tackle global warming until--we
have pages on the floor--our 15- and 16-year-old pages are in office,
when they are in their forties and their fifties, then it will be
almost impossible to address this issue because of the feedback loops
that are occurring.
I was watching yesterday a time-lapsed series of ice in the Arctic,
and I can tell you that essentially, as viewed from North America,
there was a swirling mass of ice--and this was over several decades--
and that swirling mass became less with every passing year, to where we
are halfway to starting to be ice-free in the summer. That is a massive
change happening within a single human lifetime which is but a blink in
time when you think about the age and course of this planet.
So big changes are occurring, and when those changes occur, we do
have additional problems arise. All of that open water in the Arctic
absorbs more sunlight. That is what makes the water blue and it becomes
warmer; whereas, the ice reflects the sunlight and keeps the water
cooler. Therefore, we have a magnification of the effect of global
warming at the poles. This is not a good thing.
So whether we are looking at the impact on our farming or the impact
on our forests which are burning or the impact on our oceans and our
fisheries which are becoming too acidic, we have a responsibility to
address those issues. That means we are going to have to not burn all
the fossil fuel that we have been clever enough to find in the crust of
the Earth.
It is estimated that we would have to leave four-fifths of the fossil
fuels we already have identified that are in the ground. We have to
leave it in the ground rather than burn it if we are not going to
exceed 2 degrees centigrade in global warming. That is a huge
challenge.
That means we cannot proceed to build infrastructure designed to
accelerate the extraction of these fossil fuels. The pipeline is
exactly that kind of infrastructure.
Now, have no doubt, I love the idea of jobs and construction. That is
why I am a huge supporter of the Partnership to Build America Act. The
Partnership to Build America Act would create hundreds of thousands of
construction jobs over the course of a number of years in America. That
is the type of investment in jobs and construction and infrastructure
we should make, but we shouldn't be investing infrastructure that is
going to do profound damage to our planet. That does not honor the
moral responsibility we have to the stewardship of this beautiful blue-
green orb that we live on known as this planet Earth.
Let's honor our responsibility and let's not override the veto the
President has put on this bill.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I ask that the order for the quorum call
be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HOEVEN. I ask unanimous consent for up to 30 minutes to engage in
a colloquy on the Keystone Pipeline approval legislation which was
vetoed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HOEVEN. Thank you, Mr. President.
I am here to discuss the Keystone Pipeline approval legislation and
the President's recent veto as well as our efforts today to override
that veto.
I will be joined in the colloquy with my distinguished colleague from
South Dakota. Also our colleague on the other side of the aisle from
West Virginia will be joining us shortly, as well as the chairman of
the energy committee, our colleague from Alaska. I want to make a
couple points upfront and then turn to my colleague from South Dakota.
What I have here and have shown before on the Senate floor is the
route the Keystone XL Pipeline would take from the oil sands in
Hardisty, Alberta, coming down through Montana where we pick up
domestic crude. Often people think of it as moving Canadian crude, but
it also picks up domestic crude in the Bakken region. Our country likes
sweet Bakken crude oil from Montana, and then it takes it on to
refineries throughout the country. So that is the project we are
talking about.
This chart shows the project itself, and it shows what is going to
happen if we don't approve it. You have to understand, this has been
going on now for over 6 years. The President has delayed this project
for more than 6 years, but if we don't build the pipeline to move our
domestic crude in the United States, then Canada will build pipelines
to the west coast and that oil will go to China by tanker ship and be
refined in China.
Again, we go through all these different discussions, but the reality
is the oil will be produced. The question is, Do we want to have that
oil here in our country or would we rather see it go to China?
Of course, if it goes to China, then not only does that affect our
ability to use the oil in our country because we don't have the
infrastructure to move it around safely and cost-effectively, but we
also then continue to import oil from the Middle East.
I will run through a couple more of these charts and bring us up-to-
date. It is not like we don't have pipelines. When the President takes
more than 6 years to make a decision--having such a hard time with this
pipeline--it is not that we don't have a few pipelines in the country.
We have millions of miles of pipeline. Of course, this is going to be
the latest, greatest state of the art with all the safety features--
something like 53 different safety features that are required as part
of the approval process that, as we say, has been going on for more
than 6 years.
The other point I want to make before we go into the latest status is
this is the finding of not one, not two, not three, not four, not five
reports by the administration, but in fact the Obama administration's
State Department has done five environmental impact statements, three
draft statements, two final statements--three draft statements and two
final environmental impact statements.
Here is what President Obama's report states after studying the
environmental impact: ``No significant environmental impact'' according
to the U.S. State Department environmental impact statements as a
result of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
So here we are today, after more than 6 years in the ``approval
process'' by the administration.
We passed this legislation with 62 votes in the Senate. It passed
through the House with about 270 votes in the
[[Page S1282]]
House, a big bipartisan vote for this legislation.
Last Tuesday--last Tuesday we sent it to the President. We sent it to
him in the morning and he vetoed it the same day and had it back to us
that afternoon. So that was pretty efficient. We send it to him in the
morning and--bang--he has it back here in the afternoon.
His rationale for vetoing the project is he said it cut short his
review process. That is right out of his veto message. It cut short his
review process. So for somebody who figured out how to veto it in one
day who has been studying it for over 6 years--over 6 years--and he
vetoed it because we cut his review process short after more than 6
years.
Subsequent to that, the President was asked by the press: Mr.
President, if Congress is somehow cutting your process short, when are
you going to make a decision? His response to the press--I believe it
was last week or earlier this week--he said he is going to make a
decision either in a couple weeks or maybe in a couple months but
certainly by the end of his term.
My question is this, How can there be any process there? Where is the
process? What process are you talking about?
If he delays it for more than 6 years--a situation where TransCanada,
a company that has met every single requirement of the law and
regulations--they have met all the requirements for more than 6 years.
The six States on the route have all approved the project. All six
States on the route have approved the project. It wasn't tough; they
had 6 years to do it. The American people overwhelmingly support this
project in poll after poll, from 65 to 70 percent.
What process is he talking about that was cut short? There is no
process there. If you go on for 6 years, where a company has spent
millions of dollars, taking 6 years to try to build an $8 billion
project that would help us create energy security in this country,
working with our closest friend and ally, Canada, what process is he
talking about? When asked: When are you going to make a decision as to
your process, he said: I don't know, maybe a few weeks, maybe a few
months, by the end of my term, anyway. That is 8 years.
Isn't this a country of laws? How would you or anyone else feel--any
company, large or small, anybody who feels if they comply with the law
and they do everything they are supposed to do and they do it over and
over again and somebody who is elected to office says, yes, you know, I
just don't feel like it.
When did we cease to become a country of laws? When did we cease to
have a situation where we can rely on the laws and the regulations of
this State, whether it is an individual, a family, a community, a
company or anything else?
So when we look at a project such as this one, that is a question we
have to ask ourselves, because if it can happen in this situation,
can't it happen in any situation? When do we as a Congress step up and
say: We pass the laws. We pass the laws and those laws have to be
respected and enforced. Isn't that our job? Isn't that our obligation?
Isn't that why the people of this country sent us? I believe it is.
It is one thing to say: Well, it is that TransCanada company. They do
business in Canada. They do business here. What if it was you? What if
it was your company? What if it was 6-plus years of your life? What if
it was millions of your dollars? How would you feel about it?
Remember, America is the place people throughout history have come to
do business. This is where they come to do business because they can
count on our laws and they can count on our regulations and they can
count on the fact that if they made the investment, they would be able
to do business on a certain, dependable basis. What happened to that?
When we lose that, what happens to our economy?
With that, I would like to turn to my good friend from South Dakota.
This pipeline will run through his State, creating jobs and millions of
tax dollars for his State.
Mr. THUNE. I appreciate the leadership of the Senator from North
Dakota on this issue. He has been a fierce advocate for many months in
the Senate for the jobs and economic activity, the energy independence,
and the positive benefits to our national security in building this
pipeline. The most recent development is the frustration with having
the President veto a bill that has more than 60 cosponsors in the
Senate. This is a broad bipartisan bill. The Senator from North Dakota
worked very hard to make it that way. A lot of Members on both sides of
the aisle support this pipeline.
What is striking to me about it is some of the misstatements and
things that have been said here recently--the President in his veto
message and some of the things he said. The Washington Post Fact
Checker, as recently as a couple days ago, pointed out that when the
President said that this is going to bypass the United States and we
are not going to get any benefit from this, not only did they give him
one, two, three--he got four Pinocchios from the Washington Post. What
that means, folks, is that is a really big whopper to suggest that
there is not going to be any benefit to the United States from this.
In fact, they went on to point out in that story that their estimate
is that 70 percent of the oil to be refined would be used in this
country.
Furthermore, as the Senator from North Dakota pointed out, this is a
significant investment, obviously, by people who want to do business in
the United States because of our rule of law or rules and certainty
that come with that. The production, the oil sands up there in North
Dakota is 30 percent owned by Americans. There is a lot of American
ownership in this, and Canada is our friend and ally. Instead of
getting the same type or quality of oil from a country where we don't
have a favorable relationship--Venezuela, for instance--we can get it
from Canada, and it can come through this country. The suggestion that
it is not going to benefit anybody in this country is completely wrong.
I know the Senator from North Dakota has pointed out before that up
to 100,000 barrels of oil a day would be put in here from his State of
North Dakota and from Montana--a lot of the light, sweet crude that is
so valued--and it would take pressure off the railroads.
Interestingly enough, the Senator from North Dakota pointed out that
the administration found no significant environmental impact. Well,
think about this. You are now putting this oil on a railcar or a truck,
and the studies show that creates 28 to 42 percent more emissions than
shipping it in a pipeline. It is going to go some way. It is going to
go on a truck, a railcar or a pipeline. If it goes on a railcar or a
truck, it will create 28 to 42 percent more emissions than transporting
it through a pipeline. From an environmental standpoint, it makes all
the sense in the world.
As somebody who represents a border State to North Dakota, we have
had our own issues these last couple of years with the rail service and
trying to get our agriculture commodities to the marketplace. There is
an awful lot of pressure to move oil on rail. If you can move some of
that in the pipeline--100,000 barrels a day--it takes a lot of pressure
off of the rails and frees up that infrastructure and capacity to move
agricultural commodities that are so important to both of our States.
There is a lot of misinformation that has been put out on this
particular subject. I hope we can at least have discussions based upon
a common set of facts, and most of the facts we are talking about are
things that have been put out by the administration.
My State of South Dakota--as the Senator from North Dakota
mentioned--would be crossed by this. The estimate by the State
Department was that it would create $100 million in earnings in South
Dakota, create 3,000 to 4,000 construction jobs, and generate about $20
million in property tax revenue.
There is an awful lot of interest in my State in what happens with
the economic activity, the jobs, the property tax revenue, and what
that could do to support local governments, law enforcement, schools,
and those sorts of things--not to mention getting us away from the
dependence we have on foreign sources of energy.
Let's be factual in this discussion. This doesn't bypass the United
States. This has tremendous economic and positive economic impacts on
our country, and we should not forget that. As we debate this here and
have an opportunity now to vote on this veto, we
[[Page S1283]]
should at least have a set of facts that is consistent with reality.
The Senator from Alaska has been very involved and has been a great
leader on this issue.
My colleague from West Virginia is here as well. He has been working
very hard to move this project along. It is unfortunate we are where we
are. Perhaps we will be a couple of votes short today, but who knows.
Maybe some people will come to the right conclusion and help us advance
this important project.
I thank the Senator from North Dakota for his leadership. The Senator
from North Dakota pointed out the number of pipelines that already
exist in this country. I know the Senator has also pointed out the
positive impact--when we get this down and it gets refined in other
parts of this country--that a lot of this energy will be used here in
the United States. I appreciate the fact that the Senator has made all
of those facts abundantly clear on the floor. It is unfortunate that we
have not been able to persuade the President, but I still have hope.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I thank the good Senator from South
Dakota, and turn to my colleague from West Virginia who has been a
champion on this project and other energy projects. As a Governor, he
has worked on energy. He understands job creation, and he understands
that we can make this country much stronger if we produce energy here
at home versus getting it abroad.
I turn to my colleague from the State of West Virginia and thank him
for his leadership on this legislation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Flake). The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. MANCHIN. I thank the Senator. I very much appreciate this
colloquy, which is basically just common sense.
I became a Senator on November 15, 2010, so I have been here a little
over 4 years. That is when I was first brought to understand the
Keystone project, which was underway at the time and trying to be
built. I was asked the question: What do you think? I looked at it very
quickly, and I looked at how much oil we buy from other countries
around the world. We buy the same type of oil--750,000 barrels of oil a
day--from Venezuela. I was thinking that I would rather buy from my
friends rather than from my enemies--the people who take the proceeds
and the profits from our buying their product and use it against us. I
was very clear on that, and I think most West Virginians feel the way I
do.
Let's look at the facts. Forty percent of this pipeline has already
been built. This is the part we are talking about, which has not been
built and which we are producing and would like to build. The capacity
from the Bakken--we talked about how 12 percent of the volume from this
will be Bakken oil from North America.
We are saying that we are moving and producing our oil, buying from
our best, friendliest neighbor and ally, Canada, and it makes us more
secure as a nation. I have heard all of the arguments against it.
People have said that we can't do this because basically this oil will
come straight down and go out. They make you believe it is going to
come down here, get loaded on a tanker, and taken to another country,
so that we get no benefit at all. That is what they are telling me.
We had a press conference 2 or 3 weeks ago. We had the Prime Minister
of Canada and the Premier of Alberta. Everybody who was there agreed
that will not happen, and it can't happen because they need this to
refine it. They will be subjected to the same rules and regulations
that our Commerce Department puts on oil in America. No crude will be
exported unless we change the law. So that prevents that from
happening. That is a misnomer.
Next, they said they don't pay 8 percent into the Oilspill Liability
Trust Fund in case there is a spill. They agreed to do that. They said:
Wait a minute; this will not be built with American steel. Yes, it will
be. They agreed to that. Everything we have asked for, they have agreed
to.
We can't even get our side of the aisle to agree basically to put it
in a piece of legislation to make sure that it will happen. I trust the
Canadians. They will do exactly what they said. I would like to codify
it by putting it in the bill, and I am working on that.
The politics of what we are dealing with is this. If we can't get
four more Democrats on my side to vote with me to repeal and beat the
veto the President has, this is coming back. Everybody in this
understands the reality of politics. This legislation is coming back in
the form of an infrastructure bill or a road bill. It will come back on
a bill that we will all vote for, and we will have to spend a lot of
time and energy again on this same subject. I have said to do it now.
Let's do it now and move on to something that we need to move on to,
which will be something of great interest.
I have a hard time reasoning with those who say that this pipeline is
not going to make us more secure. We buy 7 million barrels of oil a
day. We buy that oil from other countries, such as Saudi Arabia,
Venezuela, and even Russia.
If you want to make this country more secure, let's not depend on the
foreign oil where they will use resources that will be used against us.
The last time I checked, I don't believe Venezuela uses any of the
money we give them for their oil to benefit America. I am not convinced
that Saudi Arabia uses any of their money to benefit our country or any
of these other foreign countries that we buy from.
This is a perfect, commonsense solution. I also think that our good
friend from South Dakota talked about the amount of trains. My State
just had a tragedy. Thank God there was no loss of life, and by the
grace of God, no one was injured. I can tell you that the amount of
transportation on the rail has increased 3,300 percent since 2009. So
3,300 percent more oil is being transported in America by rail. If we
can relieve some of that and be safer--as well as environmentally
safer--we should do it.
I ask my colleagues to consider this legislation because if we don't
do it now, it is going to come back. We have a chance to put it to bed.
It makes a lot of common sense as far as jobs.
I will say one more thing about jobs. They talked about jobs. When I
was Governor and when the Senator from North Dakota was Governor, we
built an awful lot of infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. I
never remember creating one permanent job after I built a bridge. There
were a lot of good jobs that paid good money during the construction,
and all of my contractors were happy. All of my affiliated trades
people were happy that they had jobs, but we never expected to create
permanent jobs. They were construction jobs. That is what it is.
Why are people saying that we are not creating jobs? This is
construction. When it is done, it is done. I don't know why we can't
come to grips with that. We do it all day long. We will talk about an
infrastructure bill and be tickled to death that we are getting jobs.
But when we talk about 20,000 to 40,000 jobs to build this pipeline, I
don't understand why it is not something we can all embrace.
I say to all of my colleagues on my side of the aisle, as well as on
the other side of the aisle, that we should all support something that
makes so much sense to the American people and the working people of
America and also for the security of our Nation.
I applaud and support my friend. I cosponsored this bill. I feel very
strongly about it, and I will continue to speak out about it as long as
we have to. I hope today is the last time we have to speak about this
legislation. I hope we get this veto repealed and move on.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I thank our colleague from West Virginia
for his tremendous leadership. I know that will continue. He is right.
If we don't win the battle today, we will win the war because we will
find another bill to attach this legislation to. But the thing is that
we ought to pass it on its merits, as the Senator so eloquently
explained.
I will now turn to the head of the energy committee, somebody who is
truly committed to an ``all of the above'' energy approach and
demonstrates that leadership on the ``all of the above'' approach every
day in this body and certainly in her leadership of our energy
committee. That is why she speaks on this issue in a way that should
have everyone listening to her. Whether she is speaking about fossil
fuels, traditional energy or renewables, this is a Senator who has
supported all of these and has great creditability on this issue.
I turn to my colleague from Alaska.
[[Page S1284]]
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I thank my friend and colleague from
North Dakota for his leadership. He has been dogged not only as we have
advanced this measure through the floor and process but truly over the
years.
It has been 6-plus years, or 2,350 days, since the company seeking to
build the Keystone XL Pipeline first submitted its cross-border permit
application. Even with all this time, the President is incapable of
making a final decision.
I thank my colleague from West Virginia, who just spoke. He
articulated some of the myths and misconceptions that are out there,
and the Senator from South Dakota annunciated them as well.
When you think about where we are today, with this veto override here
in front of us--you have to think about that fact that this is
bipartisan energy legislation. The first bill we sent to the President
this year is bipartisan and has strong support around the country from
an environmental perspective, from an energy security perspective, and
from a national security perspective. The Keystone XL Pipeline is what
we should endorse. It is wrong and shortsighted that this President has
chosen to veto this bipartisan energy initiative.
We have heard on the floor all of the reasons why this proposal is
good and sound and rational. It focuses on the energy infrastructure. I
think it is also important to remind colleagues that when we had this
bill on the floor in January, we had something that we have not had in
a long period of time, and that was an open amendment process. We moved
41 different amendments forward to the floor, and some of those
amendments actually passed. They became part of this Keystone XL
Pipeline legislation.
So in addition to vetoing the infrastructure aspects of this
legislation, the President has vetoed a time-sensitive provision that
will provide regulatory relief to our water heater manufacturers. He
also vetoed multiple provisions to increase the efficiencies of our
commercial buildings. He has also vetoed a provision that would improve
the energy retrofitting assistance that would be available for our
schools. He also vetoed what I believe many of us viewed as a very
responsible path forward on the Oilspill Liability Trust Fund and our
statement asserting that climate change is real.
We made some good progress with this bill. If this vote is not
successful, all of that is now off the table. We are not just talking
about permitting a piece of pipe, the infrastructure that goes across
the border. Keep in mind, folks, we also included some things that this
body felt were important to advance, and that has all been vetoed by
this President. It was wrong to veto this legislation.
I think it is also important to highlight some of the irony we see
with the veto of this legislation coming from this administration. In
effect, the President is making a mockery of the Executive order meant
to expedite decisions, as it has been more than 2,350 days since this
application was submitted for permit. But there is other irony here,
and I wish to take a brief moment to point this out.
Last month the White House released the National Security Strategy
for this country. I will quote from this strategy:
The challenges faced by Ukrainian and European dependence
on Russian energy supplies puts a spotlight on the need for
an expanded view of energy security that recognizes the
collective needs of the United States, our allies, and
trading partners as well as the importance of competitive
energy markets. Therefore, we must promote diversification of
energy sources, fuels, and routes, as well as encourage
indigenous sources of energy supply. Greater energy security
and independence within the Americas is central to these
efforts.
Well, Canada is within the Americas.
The President's veto of the Keystone XL Pipeline contradicts his own
national security policy. It contradicts his own energy policy that is
outlined by the Council of Economic Advisers in their economic report
when they say ``the extent to which a country's economy is exposed to
energy supply risks--specifically, international energy supply
disruptions that lead to product unavailability, price shocks, or both.
The President is contradicting himself at every turn, whether it is
his Climate Action Plan that he has introduced, vetoing his own--this
veto contradicts his own climate policy.
We have an opportunity to boost our economy, to help our allies, to
increase our energy security, to be an environmental leader, and to
lead on energy. This President's veto denies us that. It is a failure
of leadership.
I recommend that all of us on both sides of the aisle come together
to override this veto.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, President Obama had advocated reducing
our reliance on Middle Eastern oil. The President has advocated
reaffirming the commitment of the United States to its close allies.
The President has led us to believe he would work to create American
jobs, not veto them. Of course, signing the bipartisan Keystone jobs
bill would have advanced all of those priorities, but President Obama
chose deep-pocketed special interests over the middle class with his
partisan veto of the Keystone jobs bill. It is the kind of thing that
puts union workers on edge. I suspect it makes some of our Democratic
colleagues uncomfortable too.
But here is the good news: Our Democratic friends don't have to make
the same choice the President made. There is a bipartisan jobs
coalition right here in the Senate that would love to have their
support. We are pro-Keystone jobs, we are pro-Keystone infrastructure,
and we are pro-middle class.
If you are interested in jobs and infrastructure and saving your
party from an extreme mistake, then join us. Vote with us to override a
partisan veto and help the President pursue priorities he has advocated
in the past. There is no reason to allow powerful special interests to
block the billions this infrastructure project would pour into our
economy or the thousands of American jobs Keystone would support. Your
vote for common sense can release this special interest stranglehold.
It can return a little more sanity to Washington.
There is a lot we can accomplish by working together with serious
jobs ideas and commonsense reform as our guiding principle. So I hope
you will join the new majority in that effort because no matter what
happens today, this new Congress is not going to stop working for good
ideas, and we are not going to protect the President from them either.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I wish to thank the majority leader and
our colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting this
bipartisan legislation.
The Prime Minister of Israel was here yesterday and he spoke to
Congress. We have an opportunity to declare energy independence. We do
not need to rely on oil from the Middle East. I ask my colleagues to
join with us and vote yes to override the President's veto of this
legislation.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Shall the bill (S. 1) pass,
the objections of the President of the United States to the contrary
notwithstanding?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the Constitution.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Donnelly)
is necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 62, nays 37, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 68 Leg.]
YEAS--62
Alexander
Ayotte
Barrasso
Bennet
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Capito
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Coats
Cochran
Collins
Corker
Cornyn
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Enzi
Ernst
Fischer
Flake
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heitkamp
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Kirk
Lankford
Lee
Manchin
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott
Sessions
Shelby
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Vitter
Warner
Wicker
[[Page S1285]]
NAYS--37
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Booker
Boxer
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Coons
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Heinrich
Hirono
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Peters
Reed
Reid
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Udall
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--1
Donnelly
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 62, the nays are
37.
Two-thirds of the Senators voting, a quorum being present, not having
voted in the affirmative, the bill, on reconsideration, fails to pass
over the veto of the President of the United States.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. McCONNELL. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
____________________