EDITORIAL: Keystone stalled by ‘party of no’
For years, Democrats have accused Republicans of being the “party of no,” especially when it comes to President Barack Obama’s economic agenda. Even the president himself has chimed in time and time again with charges of Republican obstructionism.
“So far this year, Republicans in Congress have blocked every serious idea to strengthen the middle class,” he said during a weekly radio address in July.
But with a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showing that three in four Americans support construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Democratic Senate blocking a bill Tuesday to authorize the project, we have to wonder: Who’s the “party of no” now?
If the Keystone pipeline is ever built, it will send some 800,000 barrels of oil each day from Canada across the Midwest to American refineries on the Gulf Coast. The pipeline also would carry oil from North Dakota. It would require hundreds of miles of steel pipe, create thousands of new jobs and generate $3.4 billion in economic activity — all without Washington having to borrow or spend a dime. And moving oil via pipeline is far safer and has less environmental impact than transporting oil by rail or truck, which leads to larger, more dangerous spills and creates more emissions.
Keystone is as bipartisan as policy gets in Washington. Labor unions support it for the jobs it will create, and a good number of Democrats — who typically favor renewable energy over an expansion of oil production — would love to see it built, as well. Unfortunately, an even greater number of Democrats, including the president, remain opposed to the project.
Have Democrats forgotten that part of the reason their labor base abandoned them on Election Day was their refusal to approve the pipeline and their indifference to all of the middle-class jobs its construction would create? Contrary to the party line and the president, Democrats aren’t advancing the middle class by opposing Keystone. They’re sacrificing the middle class at the altar of misguided environmentalism in order to satisfy uppity donors on both coasts.
The North American oil boom has been a boon for the middle class, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and reducing gasoline prices for everyone. Republicans should indeed vote on the pipeline again when they have full control of Congress next year. They shouldn’t do it because it will embarrass and hurt Democrats, but rather because Keystone is an economically and strategically critical project that will strengthen the continent and benefit the American people.