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Title: Dear Leader defends Keystone pipeline delay
Source:
The Washington Examiner
URL Source: http://campaign2012.washingtonexami ... keystone-pipeline-delay/243201
Published: Dec 8, 2011
Author: Brian Hughes
Post Date: 2011-12-08 08:38:10 by Happy Quanzaa
Keywords: Obama-doma-ding-dong, Obamanomics in action, no jobs
Views: 288
President Obama used the unveiling of a new trade agreement with Canada on Wednesday to defend his administration's delay of a planned pipeline between the two countries, an action criticized by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Republicans alike as a job killer. In recent weeks, the Obama administration decided to delay a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast, angering Harper, who said the project would produce thousands of jobs. Obama ordered the State Department to conduct new environmental studies, a move critics said was designed to punt the issue until after the 2012 election. Republican lawmakers have attempted to force the president's hand on the development, saying they would block his desired payroll tax cut extension if he dithered on the pipeline. Standing alongside Harper, Obama defended the red tape that has stalled the pipeline decision, saying it was "important to understand all the questions surrounding the project." And he also warned Republicans against using Keystone to derail his other initiatives. "Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut, I will reject. So everybody can be on notice" Obama said. "It shouldn't be held hostage." Harper declined to comment on the president's position, saying it was a "domestic" political situation. But in other settings he has roundly criticized the delay. "It is not in this country's interest that we are a captive supplier of the United States, of energy products, especially when we see some of the politics that are going on south of the border," he said last week. In addition to the pipeline controversy, Harper has recently balked at proposed legislation from the White House that would have banned Canadian firms from bidding on U.S. contracts. But on Wednesday Obama touted his commitment to the nation's largest trading partner. "No two nations match up more closely together or are woven together more deeply economically and culturally than the United States and Canada," Obama said, adding, "We're going to make it easier to conduct the trade and travel that creates jobs." Obama said the deal would expedite travel for legal residents between the two countries, increase cyber-security protections and improve oversight of cargo between the United States and its largest trading partner. Under the agreement, Canada and the United States will integrate their respective entrance systems to monitor visitors moving between countries, sharing more information about travelers in an effort to streamline the process of crossing the border. The agreement is similar to the system the United States has in place with European nations that allows them to follow the visitors to and from a country in real time -- a measure implemented after Sept. 11. Some Canadian residents have decried such a system along the U.S. northern boundary, but Americans are far more focused on security issues along the Mexican border, where violence is rampant and the drug trade continues unabated. But the president and Harper, the conservative leader of Canada, argued that such approaches were needed to expand trade between the two nations. Obama has pledged to double U.S. exports, and to do so, would likely require heightened trade with Canada. "I want to make a pitch: We want even more Canadians entering the United States," Obama said. "Please spend more money here."
Obama defends Keystone pipeline delay
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, left, listens as U.S. President Barack Obama speaks following a meeting at the
White House in Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011. President Obama warned congressional Republicans that he would
reject any effort to tie extraneous issues to an extension of the payroll tax cut, including the approval of an oil pipeline
between the U.S. and Canada. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)
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