[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15680-15681]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I note that we are going to have some 
discussions between the leaders about the agenda coming up. I would 
like to take a few minutes to make it perfectly clear that I think one 
of the first steps we need to take to assure voters that we have heard 
the message and that I myself have heard that message is to get our 
work done on the floor of the Senate.
  I am a centrist. I am a proud centrist. The record expresses that I 
am a centrist. As I have said a thousand times on the floor and 10,000 
times at home, I have been part of the coalition that has helped make 
this place work when it did, and I have been part of the coalition that 
has tried to make this place work even when it didn't. The record is 
clear. I don't have to say more about that.
  But yesterday when I arrived in Washington thinking that it would be 
a very good time to begin our work and came to the Senate floor, I was 
actually very surprised that neither leader on either side--neither 
Harry Reid nor Mitch McConnell--was prepared to move us to a vote that 
is so obvious that we should do and has been obvious for a long time, 
and that vote is on the Keystone Pipeline.
  As chair of the energy committee, I moved this out of my committee 
months ago--I said I would, and I did--and worked every day that I 
could to get this vote up on the Senate floor.
  I wish to submit for the Record and talk for a few minutes about it 
because I came here at 2:00 yesterday--it has been 24 hours. What a 
difference 24 hours can make when a Senator is willing to stand up and 
speak and lead. My leadership didn't give me permission to do this. 
Nobody asked me to do it. And I waited for Mitch McConnell and John 
Cornyn to call for a vote on the Keystone Pipeline, and neither one of 
them did.
  I would like to read what Leader McConnell said yesterday because at 
4:00 he is going to come to the floor and try to convince us he said 
something else. But the reporters have the Record, I have the 
transcript, and I am going to take just a minute to read it now.
  I am going to get to that in just 1 second because I have it, but I 
am going to paraphrase it now while the staff brings it to me.
  Mitch McConnell came to the floor--and I was here when he spoke, so I 
know it pretty well--he came to the floor, and then he took a few bows 
for the win, and then he said there is some work we need to do in this 
lameduck session. He did not mention the Keystone Pipeline. It is not 
in the transcript. He said three things: He said something about the 
budget, he said something about retroactive taxes, and he said a third 
thing. I will read the transcript into the Record in just a minute.
  So I waited patiently, hoping he would say something about the 
Keystone Pipeline since it was talked about a lot on the campaign trail 
last year, but he didn't. He said that he has his agenda and that it 
was clear there were a few things we had to do in the lameduck, but the 
Keystone Pipeline wasn't one of them. So I was disappointed.
  I had to wait for the second leader on the Republican side, John 
Cornyn, to speak. There is a likely transcript that he has--here it is. 
Here is the McConnell transcript. This is what Mr. McConnell said 
yesterday. This is 24 hours later, after this Senator stood on the 
floor and made some pretty pointed remarks about the leadership on both 
sides here. This is 24 hours later. But this is what Leader McConnell 
said yesterday:

       In the weeks that remain in this Congress, we should work 
     to accomplish the essential task of funding the Congress and 
     preventing retroactive tax increases. We must address the 
     expiring authority passed earlier this session for the 
     Department of Defense to train and equip moderate, vetted 
     Syrian opposition, and we must continue to support the 
     efforts to address the Ebola crisis.

  No mention of Keystone. Not one. If I were the leader of the majority 
party and came back and said there is some unfinished business, after 
talking incessantly about Keystone for the last 6 years, the first 
thing I would do is say----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent for 5 more minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. We can have a short Thanksgiving break. We don't have 
to have a long break for Christmas. The problem is we haven't been 
working.
  Here is my list. He mentioned three things; Keystone was not on them.
  Then, to shorten this, John Cornyn, the Senator from Texas, came to 
the floor and he gave a very long list. He did in fact mention 
Keystone, but it was in the context of, as soon as we convene again in 
January--a long list--we will vote on Keystone.
  I came to the floor yesterday and said that was not good enough to 
the leader of my leadership and the leadership of the Republican Party 
and said: You know what, I would like to vote on Keystone now.
  So yesterday, because I gave that speech and because the public wants 
us to do this--more than I, the public

[[Page 15681]]

wants a vote on Keystone and has wanted it for a long time. The House 
of Representatives took the bill that Senator Hoeven and I had drafted, 
stripped the language of theirs, which would never have passed the 
Senate of the United States and would never have gotten to the 
President's desk, and put our language in--like I would be upset about 
that. I am not upset about that. I am happy about that. I am grateful 
that I was able yesterday, in 3 hours, to move the leadership of the 
Democrats in the Senate, the leadership of the Republicans in the 
Senate, the Republican leadership in the House to get a vote on 
Keystone on Tuesday.
  So I am going to come back and say more about this, but for the 
reporters who are not used to people being as direct as I am being now, 
go read the transcript for yourselves so when they call press 
conferences later today and claim victory, please remember who was on 
this floor talking about it. Mitch McConnell didn't mention it--the 
transcript is right here--did not mention the word ``Keystone.'' John 
Cornyn mentioned the word ``amnesty'' several times and ``Keystone'' 
once. I am the Senator who came to this floor as chair of the energy 
committee to say: Let's get our business done; let's start now. And 
that is what we are going to do. I am glad we are going to be voting 
very soon.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 
up to 3 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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