60 Plus Chairman rejects President Obama’s political appeasement
Alexandria, VA – Chairman James L. Martin of the senior advocacy group 60 Plus Association joined today a growing chorus of national leaders claiming that politics-as-usual is to blame for postponing approval of the $7 billion Keystone XL project. With U.S. House and Senate legislation forcing a quick decision pending, and a House subcommittee hearing on the project conducted last week, Martin is urging the White House and policymakers on Capitol Hill to approve the pipeline.
“The Obama administration’s decision to appease environmental activists by pushing approval of Keystone XL into 2013 is the same type of politics the president derided during his campaign for the White House. This is awful public policy, economic negligence, and bad for our country. Sadly, increased pressure lately from environmentalists was heard loud and clear in the Oval Office; and now affordable energy and thousands of jobs will be lost thanks to this special interest-driven decision,” said Martin. “This clearly shows yet again that the president is unwilling to go to bat for the American economy. And it also demonstrates that this administration is deaf to the need of secure and affordable energy, which is especially important to Americans on fixed incomes such as seniors.”
“Measures sponsored by Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Richard Lugar and Rep. Lee Terry seek to reverse this course of action, which would enact policy that is economically-sound and a boost to our energy security,” said Martin. “Sens. McConnell and Lugar’s legislation would require the State Department to issue a permit for the pipeline within 60 days of the legislation’s passage. And Congressman Terry wants to engage further the State of Nebraska – a key place of contention over the pipeline – and shift approval authority away from the State Department to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. These congressional efforts are slated to do what the president and his environmental allies rejected: needed job creation, an economic stimulus free of government money, and future energy security for Americans nationwide. It is a shame that the Obama administration has again missed another big opportunity to get our country back on track. On behalf of seniors and all Americans, I hope the pipeline doesn’t have to wait until after the upcoming elections, for our economy simply cannot wait any longer.”
At a press conference last week, Sen. McConnell summed up this political appeasement well, when he stated, “I think I would conclude that [the president] looked along the pipeline and concluded he is not likely to carry any of those states, so by delaying it he obviously is making an effort to curry favor with environmental activists.” This continued lingering is putting increases in personal income, new tax revenues, and tens of thousands of jobs on hold.
“This coming Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to meet with President Obama at the White House. It will be no surprise if the Prime Minister takes issue with President Obama’s decision to play politics-as-usual, and, thus, to stifle regional economic growth,” Martin concluded.
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