[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 174]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE WILL CREATE JOBS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania). The Chair 
recognizes the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, unemployment is still at an all-time high; and 
the high cost of energy is having a significant negative impact on my 
district's economy as well as on the economy of the entire country.
  But when President Obama had the opportunity to help job creation and 
lower energy costs, he turned his back on hardworking American 
taxpayers. And as my colleague from Mississippi has just spelled out, 
we have just seen the highest energy costs ever in this country last 
year, and the cost of gasoline itself has more than doubled under this 
President.
  President Obama has done all he can to stand in the way of businesses 
that can help get Americans back to work. The Keystone XL pipeline is a 
$7 billion private sector infrastructure project that will create 
20,000 jobs with its construction and an estimated 100,000 indirect 
jobs during the life of its operation.
  For the 3 years that President Obama has been in office, he's delayed 
this project for political benefit in order to placate his liberal 
base. Liberals who oppose this project say that these jobs are 
``temporary'' and somehow of less value. This is not just misguided, 
but insulting. All construction jobs, by their essence, are temporary. 
No construction project is permanent. It's a dangerous precedent these 
groups are setting by denigrating hardworking Americans for the type of 
work they perform.
  The President is in full campaign mode. He's more interested in 
protecting his job than allowing the private sector to create jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot continue to import energy from Middle Eastern 
countries. North American energy will lead to energy security, lower 
energy costs, and more jobs for Americans.

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