Tuesday, November, 18th, 2014

On the Senate floor, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) hit the Senate with the blunt truth. The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline is an insane idea.

As the Senate debated a bill that would approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, Sen. Sanders said, “The scientific community is telling us that we have a narrow window of opportunity to address the crisis of climate change and to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy. This legislation would move us in exactly the wrong direction toward not only more dependence on fossil fuels but on some of the dirtiest fossil fuel imaginable. That is insane.”

Sanders also hammered the Republican claim that the pipeline is a jobs program, “To talk about 50 permanent jobs as a ‘jobs program’ is nothing more than a cruel and misleading hoax to workers in this country who want and need decent-paying jobs…If we are serious about a jobs program, let us rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads, bridges, water systems, rail, airports and older schools. Let us create jobs by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency, weatherization and sustainable energy. That is a program that will create millions of decent jobs.”

Bernie Sanders is correct. The push to pass Keystone is the kind of crazy that is fueled by special interest money in politics. Those who support the pipeline have gone to extreme lengths to cover up the true purpose of the project. The United States is nothing more than travel route for Canadian tar sands oil to be exported Asia and other countries. The pipeline isn’t a game changer for U.S. energy independence. In fact, it is the exact opposite. It encourages the reliance on fossil fuels.

Political cynicism is the reason the Senate is even voting on this piece of legislation. The vote is nothing more than an attempt to save Sen. Mary Landrieu’s seat in Louisiana. Both the political stunt and the pipeline won’t do live up to the claims of their supporters.

Instead of pursuing job creation or any of a wide variety of issues that have broad popular support, the Senate is wasting a day on Keystone.

It is an insane vote being carried out by a Congress that is being run by out of control special interests.

Insanity is too mild of a term to describe what is happening today.

A better term would be shameful.