Keystone XL Pipeline Gets It's Big House Vote Tomorrow

John Barrow (GA), one of the shadiest and most cowardly fake-Dems in the House, is a co-chair of the reactionary Blue Dogs and a member of the corrupt, corportaely-owned New Dems. In 2012 the top 38 recipients of legalistic bribes from Big Oil & Gas were all Republicans. The 39th biggest bribe taker was John Barrow, who got $106,900. The lobbyists who are in charge of bribing Members of Congress got more than just the tweet above from Barrow.

Tomorrow, when the House Republicans, vote to take approval for the Keystone XL pipeline out of President Obama's hands-- in the bill co-sponsored by Barrow and fellow Blue Dog Jim Matheson of Utah-- Barrow will have lined up several of the most corrupt Democrats in the House, mostly Blue Dogs and New Dems, to cross the aisle and vote for big profits for Big Oil and bigger healthcare bills for ordinary Americans who will be sickened by air pollution.

The Northern Route Approval Act seeks to remove President Obama from the approval process, even though the pipeline crosses a foreign border... and fits in snugly with racist conservatives who refuse to accept that an African-American is a legitimate president. H.R. 3:

Declares that a presidential permit shall not be required for the pipeline described in the application filed on May 4, 2012, by TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. to the Department of State for the Keystone XL pipeline, including the Nebraska reroute evaluated in the Final Evaluation Report issued by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality in January 2013 and approved by the Nebraska governor.

Deems the final environmental impact statement issued by the Secretary of State on August 26, 2011, coupled with such Final Evaluation Report, to satisfy all requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Grants original and exclusive jurisdiction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to determine specified issues (except for review by the Supreme Court on writ of certiorari).

Deems the Secretary of the Interior to have issued a written statement setting forth the Secretary's opinion that the Keystone XL pipeline project will not jeopardize the continued existence of the American burying beetle or destroy or adversely modify American burying beetle critical habitat.

States that any taking of the American burying beetle that is incidental to the construction or operation and maintenance of the Keystone XL pipeline shall not be considered a prohibited taking of such species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Deems the Secretary to have issued: (1) a grant of right-of-way and temporary use permit pursuant to the Mineral Leasing Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, and (2) a special purpose permit under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (described in a certain application filed with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for the Keystone XL pipeline).

It will in all likelihood pass the House tomorrow and, with the efforts of Barrow and Matheson, will be hailed as a "bipartisan" bill. It will then go over to the Senate where it could very well pass as well, since so many Democrats take massive bribes from Big Oil.

Perhaps Obama prefers it this way, so he doesn't get the blame for this pollution bill. The DCCC have both Barrow and Matheson on their highest priority Frontline list and any money contributed to the DCCC, regardless of purpose or intent, will go to work first and foremost to bolster the faltering reelection bids of these two. When the DCCC send e-mails to grassroots Democrats asking them to contribute $3 to help save the world from polluting Republicans, that money is immediately funneled into the independent campaigns working for Matheson and Barrow, two of the most hated Democrats in Congress who are unable to raise any money from the grassroots because of their Republican voting records. Matheson, for example, doesn't just have the worst ProgressivePunch crucial vote score of any Democrat this year (21.74, exactly the same as Georgia crackpot Phil Gingrey's), his score is also worse than a dozen Republicans.

One of the major Democratic donors, Tom Steyer, a climate activist (and billionaire), who's pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into garden variety corporate Democrats from Obama and Harry Reid down down the food chain to dreadful conservatives like Rahm Emanuel, Bobby Bright, Evan Bayh, Elizabeth Esty and John Delaney, has wised up that he's been using his money to defeat his own objectives. And he's done with that crap and plans to be "more strategic" in his political giving. He poured a lot of money into helping Ed Markey beat ConservaDem Stephen Lynch this year and is threatening to cut off all anti-environment Democrats. Hopefully, he understands that should include the DCCC, DSCC and DNC and hopefully he will help other wealthy donors who have been taken advantage of by hustlers like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Steve Israel and Rahm Emanuel to stop funding the operations that funnel money into unpopular conservative Democrats who work with the Republicans against environmental legislation that donors thought they were helping to enact.


Taking back our futures? Please watch this short film; it's important.



UPDATE: Grayson To Challenge Constitutionality Of GOP Tactic

Alan Grayson (D-FL) will offer a resolution challenging the constitutionality of the GOP plan to take the decision-making for Keystone XL pipeline out of President Obama's hands.

Grayson's resolution says the House should not consider this bill because "it violates Rule XXI of the House, and… it affects the dignity and integrity of the proceedings of the House since it is unconstitutional."

Questions that are raised by party leaders or have been reported from a committee must be considered right away.

Others, like Grayson's, must be handled within two days. But the House Speaker can determine whether the question qualifies. If the Speaker accepts it, that starts a debate on the question.

In this case, Grayson appears to be arguing that the legislation is unconstitutional, since it would effectively have Congress deem the northern leg of the pipeline as approved.

Republican supporters of the bill have argued that Congress has the authority under the Constitution to regulate international commerce. They say the Keystone pipeline falls into that category because it would move tar sands oil between Canada and the United States.

Opponents can point to recent court decisions saying that the responsibility for permitting for trans-national pipelines has fallen on the president for several years. But if Grayson's question comes up for a debate, Republicans are likely to argue that they are seeking to re-establish congressional authority over pipeline decisions-- especially the Keystone pipeline, which the GOP says has been unduly delayed by Obama for several years.

House Rules define an earmark as legislation authorizing a grant to an entity outside of statutory, administrative, or competitive award process. Section 6 of H.R. 3 grants a right-of-way and a temporary use permit, outside of an established statutory, administrative, or competitive award process, to only one entity: the Keystone XL pipeline. The bill also is unconstitutional because it violates the separation of powers, and offends the principle underlying the prohibition of bills of attainder.

Speaker John Boehner has two days to consider and respond to Grayson’s resolution.

“The Keystone XL Pipeline deal is an earmark to a foreign corporation, plain and simple,” Grayson said. “House Republicans claim to have been incredibly keen on ridding our legislative system of Congressional earmarks-- yet here they are-- hypocritically sneaking one in for a foreign corporation. They seem to believe that the ‘no earmarks’ rule does not apply to them. That’s just unacceptable.”



FINAL UPDATE: They Voted

H.R. 3 passed 241-175, every single Republican voting for it-- along with 19 creepy crawly "Democrats." The House leadership and the White House whipped heavily for NO votes and here's the list of the ones who ignored them so they could curry favor with Big Oil lobbyists:

• John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
• Cheri Bustos (IL)
• Jim Cooper (Blue Dog/New Dem-TN)
• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Bill Enyart (IL)
• Al Green (TX)
• Gene Green (TX)
• Ruben Hinojosa (TX)
• Sean Maloney (New Dem-NY)
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC)
• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)
• Bill Owens (New Dem-NY)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Filemon Vela (New Dem-TX)
• John Yarmuth (KY)