[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15896]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

  Mr. McCONNELL. On an entirely different matter, later today the 
Senate will vote on whether to send Congressman Cassidy's Keystone jobs 
bill to the President. It is a vote that is long overdue but certainly 
welcome. Keystone XL is just common sense. It is a shovel-ready jobs 
project that would help thousands of Americans find work. It would 
increase our supply of North American energy. It would do all of that 
with minimal net climate impact. That is why the American people 
support it. That is why Republicans support it. That is why so many 
rank-and-file Democrats support it too.
  I wish the Senate would have followed the lead of Congressman Cassidy 
and his House colleagues in approving Keystone years ago. It is just 
common sense. Those who took a serious look at the science and the 
potential benefits reached that conclusion long ago. They understand 
that the whole drama over Keystone has been as protracted as it has 
been unnecessary. We hope to turn the page on all of that today.
  The reason we are able to have this vote is because the American 
people sent a strong message earlier this month. They told us they just 
want Washington to get on with approving serious policies such as 
Keystone and then move on. That is why after years of delay and so many 
thwarted attempts to bring Keystone up for a vote, the Democratic 
leadership is finally, after 6 years, allowing us to vote on passage of 
the Cassidy Keystone bill. That is a good thing. It is a step forward. 
Now it will be up to our friends on the other side to vote with us and 
actually pass the Cassidy Keystone bill through Congress.
  The President's remarks opposing this bipartisan legislation are 
certainly not helpful. Republicans are committed to getting Keystone 
approved. We want to see those jobs created as soon as possible. That 
is what the people want. The House already acted long ago, and 
Congressman Cassidy and his colleagues, such as Senator Hoeven, who is 
here on the floor, deserve recognition for their years of hard work on 
this issue.
  So I would urge a ``yes'' vote on the legislation to send Congressman 
Cassidy's Keystone bill to the President and create more American jobs. 
If not, then a new majority, after the beginning of the year, will be 
taking this matter up and sending it down to the President.
  I also wish to take a moment to thank the Senator from North Dakota 
for his persistence on this issue for literally years.
  Without his leadership I don't know where we would be. I just want to 
extend my gratitude to him for his great work on this matter.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LEAHY. Would the Republican leader yield for a question?
  The minority leader will not yield for a question, but I would note, 
based on his concerns about the bipartisan piece of legislation 
regarding the NSA and others and his concern about ISIL--which we all 
share--that the NSA and all of our intelligence community had every 
single tool the Republican leader advocates for, while ISIL built up 
its strength, while ISIL had Iraq's army flee from them while they went 
forward. With every single one of those elements the Republican leader 
advocates for, there was not one single alarm bell that rang. So let's 
deal with the facts and not hypotheses.

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