Senate Democrats—while in the Majority—“quarterbacked President Obama’s delay-of-game strategy on the Keystone XL pipeline and its tens of thousands of jobs.” Now they have changed their tune, holding a Keystone vote just to save one senator’s job. The Investor’s Business Daily,
When Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, locked in a runoff battle with Louisiana Rep. Bill Cassidy, announced Wednesday that she had secured an agreement from her party leaders to hold a floor vote on the Keystone XL pipeline after years of delay, we had to add ours to the voices asking, why now?
For Landrieu, a vote on Keystone may seem to be just the life preserver she needs as she struggles to survive the GOP wave of 2014. For the Democratic Party, it may seem an opportunity to salvage at least one of their brethren and why not vote now, when an outgoing Democratic senate and not an incoming Republican one could take the credit.
We welcome a vote and approval in the Senate as well as the House vote and approval on legislation approving KXL sponsored by Landrieu’s opponent, Cassidy. The pipeline would create tens of thousands of new jobs in its construction, operation, and in spin-off effects as it brings nearly a million barrels of oil a day from not only Canada’s tar sands but also the exploding oil fields of North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation.
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