[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2062-2063]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           KEYSTONE PIPELINE

  Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I would like to speak on the subject of 
the Keystone XL Pipeline. The Keystone XL approval bill which we passed 
in the Senate will be voted on this afternoon in the House. I believe 
the House will pass the bill with a strong bipartisan majority, just as 
we did in the Senate.
  This bill is about energy, it is about jobs, it is about economic 
growth, and it is about national security through energy security. I 
have been on the floor in the Senate talking about all these issues as 
we worked on this bill. The Keystone XL Pipeline approval bill was the 
first bill we took up in the Senate in this Congress, S. 1. I think 
there were on the order of 250 amendments filed on the bill and we 
voted on more than 40 amendments with rollcall votes. We debated, 
Senators brought forward their amendments, and we voted on the bill and 
the bill passed, as I say, with a strong bipartisan majority.
  Now the House will vote, as I say, this afternoon on the bill as 
well. I think it is remarkable that today is the day we will pass the 
bill completely through the Congress. I think it is remarkable because 
it is on the very same day the President has sent to the Congress an 
AUMF, authorization for use of military force, to deal with ISIS. It is 
on the very same day the President has sent us an AUMF, authorization 
for use of military force, to actually send our soldiers, our men and 
women, our combat resources to the conflict in the Middle East, the 
very same day we are passing legislation that will help our Nation with 
the production of more energy, not only in the United States but also 
working with our closest friend and ally, Canada.
  This pipeline is about the infrastructure we need to help us move to 
energy security, meaning that we produce more energy than we consume. 
Today in the United States we consume about 18 million barrels of oil a 
day. Of that total, we produce about 11 million barrels a day, and we 
import from Canada about 3 million barrels a day. So if we do the math, 
that means there are about 4 million barrels a day we need to import 
from other countries. We get about half of that from OPEC, roughly 2 
million barrels a day. The Keystone XL Pipeline will move 830,000 
barrels a day. Some of that will be produced in Canada, some of it will 
be produced in the United States, but it will move 830,000 barrels a 
day to our refineries. That is almost 1 million barrels a day we don't 
have to import from somewhere else.
  So go back to the math. I just said we were importing from countries 
other than Canada 4 million barrels a day, half of that from OPEC--
about 2 million barrels a day. This project is almost half of what we 
are importing from OPEC right now. That is why I say it is remarkable 
on the very same day that we are working to build energy security for 
this country, where we are working to develop the infrastructure we 
need to move oil from where it is produced to where it is refined and 
consumed in this country, we are also dealing with the conflict in the 
Middle East. OPEC--we are getting oil from the Middle East and we are 
dealing with conflict in the Middle East. Let's break that cycle, 
right?
  At the point that we produce more energy than we consume, we are more 
energy secure. It is not only about growing the economy and creating 
jobs, but that means we don't have to get oil from OPEC anymore. That 
is one more reason we may not have to be involved in a conflict in the 
Middle East in the future. So here we are in a bipartisan way in the 
Congress doing the work the people sent us to do in the Senate and in 
the House on a project that has overwhelming bipartisan support, on a 
project where all six States on the route of this pipeline--Montana, 
South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas--all of the States have 
approved it.
  They didn't have to particularly hustle because they had 6 years to 
do it. The administration has held up this project for 6 years. Here we 
are with something that Congress overwhelmingly supports on a 
bipartisan basis. All six States that have this pipeline have approved 
it, and the American people overwhelmingly support it.
  In poll after poll, 65 to 70 percent of the American public said, 
yes, build this infrastructure, create an energy future where we 
produce the oil and gas we need in America and we work with Canada. We 
the American people don't want to rely on OPEC or the Middle East 
anymore for our energy. We don't want to have to import oil from the 
Middle East. That is what this legislation is all about.
  On the very day we are approving this bill through Congress, we are 
getting the President's request for the use

[[Page 2063]]

of military force. He is sending that agreement to us and, I believe 
the President is saying to us, Congress, join with the Obama 
administration to work to deal with the terrible problem of ISIS, and 
we need to do that.
  We are going to give that AUMF, authorization for use of military 
force, careful consideration. I think the Congress will work its will. 
Then we will, together, as representatives of the American people--the 
Executive and the Legislative branch--work to defeat ISIS.
  Just as the President is sending that document today, we are sending 
him a document. We will be sending him a law dutifully passed by both 
the Senate and the House in a bipartisan way and saying, Mr. President, 
we need you to work with us too. Just as you want Congress to work with 
you on an authorization for use of military force, we want you to work 
with us on behalf of the American people who have spoken loudly and 
consistently that they want energy security.
  Mr. President, we need you to work with us to build that vital 
infrastructure so we can produce our energy here at home and work with 
our closest friend and ally, Canada, and not be dependent on energy 
from the Middle East anymore.
  Don't be fooled--don't be fooled. We are in a battle right now for 
global market share to determine who is going to produce energy in the 
future. Is it going to be OPEC? Is it going to be Russia? Is it going 
to be the United States? Who is going to produce energy in the future? 
The reason the price at the pump has come down over $1 over the course 
of the past year is because we are producing so much oil and gas in the 
United States and because we are getting more from Canada. More supply 
pushes prices down. If that were a tax cut, it would equate to more 
than a $100 billion tax cut for the American consumer. So what is going 
on?
  On a global basis OPEC is pushing back, because they know if they 
push back, instead of our industry and our energy industry in this 
country continuing to grow, it starts to shrink again. Who is back in 
the driver's seat? OPEC is back in the driver's seat. What do you 
suppose is going to happen then? Prices will go right back up, and that 
benefit consumers get at the pump we will not have anymore. Also, that 
security issue I am talking about we will not have because we will have 
to continue to bring in oil from the Middle East. This is about a long-
term strategy for national security.
  It is more than just sending our combat resources into a conflict. A 
long-term strategy for national security also includes energy security, 
and just as the President is sending us an AUMF today, we are sending 
him legislation today that will make our Nation more energy secure. I 
hope the President will join with us in that endeavor on behalf of the 
American people.
  Thank you, and with that I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
recognized for such time as I shall consume.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I was listening very carefully to the 
Senator talking about our situation with the pipeline, and there is 
something else I was going to talk about, but I want to make sure we 
say it as often as we can. I have sent for a poster which I want to 
share with the Senate.
  My State of Oklahoma is more than just passively interested in the 
pipeline. In the center of Oklahoma is a town called Cushing. Cushing, 
OK, happens to be the central location for the pipelines going 
throughout the United States--east, west, north, and south. The 
picture, if it does arrive, that I wanted to share with everyone is of 
this President who is trying to, I guess, insult our intelligence by 
having it both ways. I think the Senator from North Dakota made it very 
clear that the President is dragging his feet and that he has been able 
to successfully stop the pipeline from coming through.
  The picture I will show is a picture of President Obama coming into 
my State of Oklahoma and standing with all the barrels behind him in 
Cushing, OK, announcing that he is not going to stop the pipeline from 
going south from Oklahoma down to the Texas border. That is very good 
because he cannot do it. The only place he can stop it is when it 
crosses the international border. Of course that is where he is 
continuing to stop it.
  I have to say he has lost the war of words on this because people 
know we have an opportunity--that everything the Senator said is 
correct. We can be totally independent in no time at all. We are not 
talking about years, we are talking about weeks and months. We can have 
our total independence just by lifting all the restrictions we have 
right now, not just the pipeline but what is happening on Federal land.
  It is interesting. We have gone through this shale revolution in this 
country, and it has been so overwhelming. In the last 5 years it has 
been in spite of the President because he continues in his budget to 
have all kinds of punitive provisions for the oil and gas industry. Yet 
because of what has happened with the shale revolution, the use of 
hydraulic fracturing, the horizontal drilling, we have increased our 
production over the last 5 years by 61 percent. All of the 61 percent 
is in private land or it is in State land. We have on Federal land a 
reduction. While the rest of the country has increased 61 percent, it 
has been reduced by 6 percent. That is the dilemma we have right now.
  It goes far beyond just the pipeline. We have an opportunity to be 
completely free--and I am talking about our Northern Hemisphere--being 
free from dependence on anyone in any part of the world for our ability 
to produce the energy necessary to run this machine called America.
  (The remarks of Mr. Inhofe pertaining to the introduction of S. 452 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. INHOFE. 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. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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