Now you already knew that Republicans have pushed for the construction of the Keystone pipeline that would bring dirty oil-sands from Canada to refineries here in America, despite the environmental challenges and the minimum amount of jobs the project might create.
But here is the real issue of the Keystone pipeline, it pays each ‘yes’ vote in Congress $250,000. That’s $250,000 to every Congress member who voted to approve the pipeline.
The oil and gas industry gave nearly $250,000 to each of the 62 senators who voted in favor of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project late last month, according to MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that tracks the influence of money in politics. The revelations come as the House of Representatives is set to vote on and expected to pass the Senate legislation Wednesday that would approve the pipeline and start transferring oil in western Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the project on a number of grounds, including environmental concerns.
The oil and gas industry, which stands to benefit from the Keystone XL pipeline, gave $236,544 on average to the senators who voted yes on Keystone, or about 10 times more than the senators who voted no. The 36 senators against the pipeline received about $22,882 apiece in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. There was no data on contributions to House members.
The official report states that only “35 permanent jobs” will be created from the construction of the Keystone pipeline. That same report, conducted by the State Department, found the negative impact of the pipeline on the environment could be tremendous. But still, with all this researched evidence staring them in the face, Republicans continue to push, fighting this six year battle to get the pipeline approve.
The 62-36 vote advanced a top priority of the newly empowered GOP, and marked the first time the Senate passed a bill authorizing the pipeline, despite numerous attempts to force President Barack Obama’s hand on the issue. Nine Democrats joined with 53 Republicans to back the measure.
This bill “is an important accomplishment for the country,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “We are hoping the president upon reflection will agree to sign on to a bill that the State Department said could create up to 42,000 jobs and the State Department said creates little to no impact on the environment.”
Still the vote was short of the threshold needed to override a veto, and the legislation still must be reconciled with the version the House passed.
No need to mince words here. Starting with immigration reform President Obama must do what is best for the country and the people who live here and not give a fuck what the Republicans, still very much led by the Tea Party, think about it. After being stymied for six long years by a Congress that did not want the first black President to have a legacy of any kind, he must now give it back to them in a big way. There is nothing to lose, no Republican lite Democrats to protect. After Obama was elected twice, by landslide electoral college victories, Republicans refused to admit there was any mandate, even any legitimacy to his victories. Now Obama must tell them loud and clear that he feels the exact same way about their victory.
Immigration reform is a no lose deal for Obama and the Democrats. First of all it’s the right thing to do. It will prevent 5 million people who live and work here, have families here, from being deported. It will also cement the Latino vote in 2016 and the Republicans have little chance of winning without a decent chunk of the Latino vote. As the Republicans complain and talk about impeachment, this will only make Latinos hate them even more than they already do. Any attempt to impeach Obama for something totally lawful and correct, will further destroy Republicans just as the impeachment of Bill Clinton did.
So there really is no downside to Obama acting by executive action on Immigration. As I had mentioned in my last column, the next two years must be executive orders and veto’s and that’s it. There is no negotiating to do with Republicans, not anymore. Been there for six years, done that for six years. You can’t negotiate with neanderthals. They don’t have the brains nor the heart to do what is right for the American people that are not in the top one percent. On the Keystone pipeline Obama must use his veto pen. Obama must show that America will take the lead on global warming. Funny how a party that hasn’t cared one bit about creating jobs, all of a sudden cares about a thousand short term jobs that would lead to about 50 permanent jobs. The over 200,000 jobs that Obama has been creating every month, they won’t talk about of course.
There is nothing more to talk about. Obama must now finish carving his legacy. A legacy that is about taking us out of a recession, ending two wars, finishing Bin Laden, bringing affordable health care to over 10 million people, a stock market that hits record highs daily, gas prices that continue to plummet, cutting the deficit in more than half, and so on and so on and so on.
Republicans will scream and shout, they will have tantrums and curse and threaten. Too damn bad. They have and will continue to misread this past election and overplay their hand. Obama must use this against them and continue to watch the infighting within the Republican party. Let them continue to have to answer impeachment calls from the Tea Party members, let them continue their infighting over this and other issues. Let them fight over shutting down the government. The more resolute he is the more infighting there will be as they try to figure out what to do with this newly defiant President that they are certainly not accustomed to.
I’m cautiously optimistic. Obama has had these opportunities before and has squandered them. However maybe with Immigration reform, the great climate deal with China, and his recent comments about the Keystone pipeline, we are indeed seeing a new Obama. An Obama that has finally realized what the agenda of the Republican party is and has been since January 20, 2009. They couldn’t prevent him from being elected twice, but they still believe they can control his destiny.
They can do so only if he allows it. He is the President. He has the moral high ground and the law on his side. He has the veto pen. He cannot allow Republicans to hurt this country anymore than they already have. He cannot allow them to destroy all the good he has done and take us back to 2008.
He must forge ahead. All they can do is cry about it. He has all the power. They know it. Let’s hope he does as well.
I think she fell and hit her head, because Landrieu obviously thinks that by adopting Republican ideas, Republican voters are going to vote for her over the Republican in the race.
Allow me to go out on a limb here and if the limb breaks, then so be it. It’s not a very high limb so I’ll most likely survive. But I’ll predict that come December 6th after all the votes are counted, Landrieu would be referred to as the former Senator from Louisiana.
See, this is yet another reason why Democrats are often considered weak and spineless. They have fought to keep the Keystone pipeline from developing for years but behold, after losing an election and losing control of the Congress, Democrats are pushing a vote on the pipeline and, by the look of things, they will approve the very legislation they have blocked all this time.
O. M. G!
The Democratic culprit behind this new pipeline push is Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. Failing to meet the required amount of votes in the midterm elections, Landrieu is forced into a runoff election on December 6th against her Republican challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy. So the wisdom of Landrieu and Senate Democrats is – win the runoff election by all means, even if it includes selling out the American people.
The problem with constructing the Keystone XL Pipeline – which will run 1700 miles from Canada to Texas and will carry heavy, low grade crude from Canada’s oil sands to refineries in Texas – is strictly environmental. The pipeline will run over the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest supplier of fresh water that stretches beneath much of Nebraska and runs from South Dakota to parts of Lubbock in Texas.
The Aquifer is responsible for providing fresh water to farmlands in 8 states, and also provides drinking water to many municipal wells. It is a big deal and extremely important to keep this source of fresh water… fresh. But constructing an oil pipeline above this massive aquifer seems to defy all logic, and that was the argument of Democrats made for years… until now.
“I believe that we should take the new majority leader at his word and stop blocking legislation that is broadly supported by the American public and has been for quite some time,” Landrieu said on the Senate floor. “I want to say, yes to majority leader — new majority leader Mitch McConnell. The time to start is now.”
And while talking to reporters, Landrieu painted herself not as a Democrat, but as an independent. “I’ve stood against my leadership,” she said, “And I’ve stood up to the Republicans.” It seems that Mary Landrieu has not learned the lesson of the 2014 midterm election – when you run away from your base and their ideals, your base will run away from you!
Needless to say, the American people and the base of the Democratic party want to preserve the Aquifer, but in a futile effort try and keep her job in the Senate, Landrieu is sell out the country!
It should also be noted that her Republican challenger is one of the authors of the bill to build the Keystone pipeline. So if Keystone is the deciding factor in who wins in Louisania, Landrieu is making a sad mistake to think the voters in her state will vote for her if she she show support for the pipeline, over the guy who authored the bill to build the pipeline. That is what I call a pipe-dream on Landrieu’s part.
It’s time for Mary Landrieu and these spineless Democrats to wake the hell up!
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