[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 63-64]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ENERGY AND NATIONAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, you know, when we look at 
what are some of the most important issues facing our country today, 
obviously economy comes very first. Next,

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we talk about energy, we talk about spending, and we talk about 
national security, all very important.
  You know, one nexus between economy and national defense is energy 
and our lack of energy here at home. Yesterday, the President's own 
Jobs Council called for an ``all-in approach'' to energy policy that 
includes expanded oil and gas drilling as well as expediting energy 
projects like pipelines. The report stated:
  ``The Council recognizes the important safety and environmental 
concerns surrounding these types of projects, but now more than ever, 
the jobs and economic and energy security benefits of these energy 
projects require us to tackle the issues head-on and to expeditiously, 
though cautiously, move forward on projects that can support hundreds 
of thousands of jobs.''
  The Keystone XL pipeline does just that. This pipeline would directly 
create 20,000 American jobs in manufacturing and construction and 
118,000 total jobs. In addition, we would see 830,000 barrels of safe 
and secure oil each day from our friends to the north, which means 
we'll need less oil from countries we can no longer rely on and are not 
friendly to the interests of the United States.
  Caterpillar, a leading manufacturer from my home State, supports 
securing stable and affordable energy from a North American ally 
through the Keystone XL pipeline and urges approval of this pipeline. 
Daniel Macholan, the Global Pipeline general manager for Caterpillar, 
said: ``Considering the economic and energy security benefits of these 
vital resources, we should continue to expand America's access to safe, 
affordable energy to help ensure improved domestic and global energy 
security and stable prices for consumers. Pipelines are a critical part 
of our energy infrastructure, and additional pipeline capacity will 
help consumers and businesses throughout the United States.''
  There's a lot of talk of the need for bipartisanship today. There's a 
lot of talk for the need to unite different factions of people into one 
common goal for our country. And I agree that when you look at this 
project, the Keystone pipeline, it has bipartisan support. There were 
Democrats that supported this bill as well as Republicans and something 
that I believe we should move forward on as a country.
  Manufacturers and union organizations are united alike in supporting 
this project. Last summer, the State Department announced that this 
extension had passed extensive environmental reviews, but President 
Obama has already stalled for more than 26 days to make a decision on 
the Keystone XL pipeline.
  The fact is that somebody will benefit from oil out of Alberta, 
Canada. If it's not the United States, it will be China--unless we take 
immediate action to expand the Keystone XL pipeline--and it will be 
American businesses and consumers who will suffer the consequences from 
our inaction.
  Ladies and gentlemen, I'm an Air Force pilot. I've been overseas. 
I've fought in these wars. And I can tell you, as much as I think we're 
doing the right thing, one thing we can do is to reduce our reliance on 
foreign oil so that when Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz, 
it means nothing to the energy security of this country and just simply 
leaves it to what that's going to mean for them.
  I strongly urge President Obama to immediately support this job-
creating, bipartisan project. The time to act is now.

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