Opinion: We want it, he wants to veto it

Jennifer Hutchinson is a sophomore political science major. Contact her at [email protected].

Jennifer Hutchinson

A new Senate majority called for more bipartisan efforts in the coming years. One such effort is the Keystone XL Pipeline.

This $7.6 billion pipeline would not only be a great job creator for the United States, but it would also significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil, delivering 830,000 barrels of oil a day from western Canada to the United States, according to The Washington Post. That is something everyone can get on board with.

The Senate is set to vote as early as next week on the nearly 1,700-mile Canada-to-Texas pipeline, which would end the State Department’s six-year review of the project and begin immediate construction on the pipeline.

The only problem, President Barack Obama is going to veto it. Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed the veto stating, “‘If this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn’t sign it,’” according to The Washington Post

If you recall, this bill went to a vote back in November. It lost by a single vote while Democrats still had control of the Senate.

However, not only is this bill now bipartisan, with support from 54 Republicans and six Democrats, but a CNN poll also indicates that the pipeline is supported by 57 percent of Americans. So why is Obama going to veto the bill?

It’s said to be due to environmental and global warming repercussions that could be a result of the pipeline. However, after six years of review, the State Department is yet to find any significant damage that would be caused by the Keystone XL.

The Washington Post also quoted Earnest as saying Congress should not meddle in the “well-established process in place” for approving projects such as the pipeline. Don’t meddle? Well, I don’t think this is meddling at all.

This is simply an effort to take steps to finalize plans that would benefit Americans; a finalization of plans that have been repeatedly stunted by Obama.

However, it seems that Obama is all out of stalling tactics. For someone who claimed to be pushing more bipartisan efforts with this new House, it seems that Obama isn’t listening to members of Congress, or even the American people.

The Denver Post reported Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a main supporter of the pipeline, saying that “the veto threat was a surprise that ‘slapped down’ a bipartisan effort before it even got started.”

“It’s just wrong. It’s just not the way you do business,” Manchin said in The Denver Post. “If this is the start of things, it is a sad beginning.”

Obama says we should be concerned about the repercussions of the Keystone XL Pipeline, but perhaps we should really be concerned about the repercussions of President Obama.