The Time Wasting Republican Keystone XL Obsession

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) delivered the cold hard truth to Senate Republicans. Sanders told them that they were wasting their time trying to pass a bill to authorize Keystone XL.
Ed Schultz asked Sen. Sanders if Senate Republicans were wasting their time trying to pass Keystone XL. Sanders answered, “The answer to your question is yes, and then on top of that the president has said that he is going to veto it, and they don’t have the votes to override the veto. But Ed, for these guys the Keystone pipeline has become a symbol, and that’s what they’re going to fight for. They see this as a major jobs bill that will provide thirty-five permanent jobs and several thousand jobs over two years. That’s their idea of real jobs bill, but they will reject the idea of rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and put millions of people to work.”

Sen. Sanders was correct. Republicans have no chance of seeing Keystone XL signed into law while President Obama is in office. Sanders also nailed the fact that Keystone XL is not a jobs bill. Keystone is nothing more than a Republican gesture of love for the Koch brothers and big oil. Mitch McConnell promised a new and productive Senate, but instead McConnell’s Senate is wasting weeks on a bill that is going absolutely nowhere.

The Republican idea that they will force President Obama to authorize the pipeline by attaching it to must sign legislation is a delusion. If there is one thing that the has become common knowledge over the last six years, it is that there no guarantee that even must pass/sign legislation will ever become law. The Republican fixation with the authorization of Keystone XL has lost with reality.

Keystone XL won’t create massive amounts of jobs. The pipeline won’t make America more energy independent, or less dependent on foreign oil. The pipeline is an example of the sort of bad public policy that congressional Republicans have continually embraced.