Daily Events...
Pipeline Clogged In Senate Recess
Wednesdays with Audrey Hudson 
8-3-11                                                                       

The Democrat-controlled Senate fled the Beltway Tuesday night for a five-week summer vacation without taking action on a number of bills sent over from the House including a measure to expedite the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline. 

The 36-inch pipeline would stretch more than 1,600 miles from Alberta, Canada through several states and into Nederland, Texas. 

The House measure directs President Barack Obama to make a decision by November, and is endorsed by several labor unions including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. 

The $7 billion project is privately funded, and would create $20 billion in new spending in the U.S. economy, create nearly 120,000 jobs, and generate an estimated $600 million in state and local taxes along the pipeline route, according to the Teamsters Union. 

“This bipartisan bill has a simple and straightforward objective -- set a schedule, coordinate that schedule, and execute a decision process,” said Rep. Lee Terry, the bill’s sponsor. 

“The more we delay this decision, the more reliant we become on oil from countries in the Middle East. This bill means less reliance on foreign oil, more jobs, and an energy policy, which doesn’t rely on less-than-friendly foreign nations. We cannot afford any more delay,” Terry said. 

The measure passed the House last week 279-147, but supporters say they will have a harder time getting it through the Senate. 

— Audrey Hudson 

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