Speaker of the House John Boehner could only react with inept rage after President Obama vetoed Keystone XL.
In a statement, Boehner raged:
The president’s veto of the Keystone jobs bill is a national embarrassment. It’s embarrassing when Russia and China are plowing ahead on two massive pipelines and we can’t get this one no-brainer of a project off the ground. The president is just too close to environmental extremists to stand up for America’s workers. He’s too invested in left-fringe politics to do what presidents are called on to do, and that’s put the national interest first.
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For the president, Keystone may just be today’s politics, but there are workers and unions who have spent years counting on the 42,000 jobs this project will support. There are small business owners counting on the promise and opportunities this project will bring to their towns. There are governors in both parties counting on the revenue and growth this project will bring to their states. There are manufacturers clamoring for the development of North America’s resources. And there’s an overwhelming majority of Americans who want us to put politics aside and get this done.
Everyone who pays attention to politics understood that the Republican obsession with Keystone XL was a total waste of time. It is interesting that Boehner considers the veto of the pipeline a national embarrassment when he doesn’t feel the same way about the government shutdown that he spearheaded, the various debt ceiling debacles, the invasion of Iraq based on a lie that he supported, and House of Representatives that spends more time on vacation than passing laws.
The national embarrassment is John Boehner. Speaker Boehner is so beholden to special interests that he wastes the time of the People’s House passing legislation that benefits a foreign oil company. A national embarrassment is the lie that Keystone XL would create 42,000 jobs. The real number of jobs that Keystone would create amounts to a few thousand temporary construction jobs.
Republicans thought Keystone XL was going to be the showdown with Obama that would signal their arrival. Instead, the pipeline is another defeat that left Boehner fuming while ignoring his own ineptitude.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
