Blue Dogs to Obama: 'Time to Approve Keystone Has Come'

Blue Dog Democrats are asking President Obama to quit stalling and approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Members of the fiscally conservative coalition sent a letter to Obama on Wednesday saying “the time to approve the Keystone XL project has come.”

“Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will provide a positive impact to a broad spectrum of the American economy,” wrote coalition co-chair Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Kurt Schraeder (D-Ore.). “An estimated 13,000 direct jobs will be created, with an additional 7,000 direct jobs needed to keep it operational. If the recent jobs report shows us anything, it’s that Americans are still in need of the highly-skilled, good-paying jobs that are created by a project of this magnitude.”

“The security risks we will avoid by construction of this pipeline are notable,” the Blue Dogs continued. “…Construction of this pipeline gives us the opportunity to displace a significant portion of the oil we import from these less-than-friendly nations, whose instability causes severe fluctuations in our gas prices here at home.”

“The Blue Dog Coalition agrees with the broad alliance of business, labor, and community leaders that the time for this pipeline has come. The economic impact and national security benefits indicate that this project is clearly in the national interest. We urge the Administration to move swiftly to approve the construction of this pipeline for the benefit of the entire country.”

Republicans have been hammering at Keystone every so often, usually in the context of jobs reports or weekly addresses.

“House Republicans remain focused on job creation and getting our economy back on track.  We recently approved legislation to ensure the Keystone XL Pipeline – a project estimated to create thousands of jobs – is built without further delay from the Obama Administration,” Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said in response to the May unemployment report.