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McConnell: Make me majority leader, I'll give you Keystone XL
The Hill ^ | 09/18/14 | Laura Barron-Lopez

Posted on 09/19/2014 7:51:37 AM PDT by thackney

Marking the sixth anniversary of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline's permit application, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) teased voters with a preview of what a GOP-controlled Senate would do.

"If American people give us the opportunity to be in a majority next year, I'll be setting the agenda," McConnell said. "It's easier to score if you're on offense, and the majority leader is offensive coordinator."

He added: "If we have a new majority next year, and a new majority leader, the Keystone pipeline will be voted on on the floor of the Senate, something the current majority has been avoiding for literally years."

The promise should come as no surprise as Republicans have voiced constant frustration with the administration over the $5.4 billion project, which would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta to Gulf refineries. Republican Sens. John Hoeven (N.D.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), John Barrasso (Wyo.), John Thune (S.D.) joined McConnell in marking the anniversary of Keystone's permit, which is currently in limbo at the State Department.

All 45 Republican senators also sent a letter to President Obama on Thursday, calling on him, yet again, to approve the pipeline, which they argue is "shovel-ready."

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, when asked by voters why the pipeline has yet to be approved, that he blames billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer.

"There is no good answer to this other than the ideological blinders that Sen. Barrasso was alluding to and the fact that Tom Steyer will come after any Democrat who votes for this because of his own ideological blinders," Cornyn said.

He added that, if given the majority, Republicans would pass Keystone XL, move on natural gas exports, and "have a robust debate about crude [oil exports] as well."

Environmentalists and liberal Democrats are adamantly opposed to the pipeline, arguing it would significantly contribute to climate change, as well as endangering the environment and homes along the project's route.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) offered to have a binding vote on Keystone XL earlier this year as long as Republicans joined with Democrats in passing a major energy efficiency bill.

Republicans wouldn't budge, blasting Reid for blocking their energy amendments.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Kentucky
KEYWORDS: 2014election; energy; keystonepipeline; keystonexl; mcconnell; oil; pipeline; senatemajorityleader
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To: JRandomFreeper
they'll get the message that liberal republicans can't win.

When the most liberal candidate gets elected in the primary, and most liberal candidate gets elected again in the general, I believe the message is the voters want more liberal candidates.

I hate to argue too much with conservatives after the same goal as I. We want the same thing. We disagree on how to make it happen.

God Bless.

41 posted on 09/19/2014 8:55:38 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: thackney

It is highly unlikely that he will have a veto proof or even a filibuster proof majority if he gets a majority at all. The smacking down of many of the conservative candidates by chicanery and by overtly pandering to the Left will depress the Republican vote in November so the Democrats’ Republican subsidiary may not even get a majority.


42 posted on 09/19/2014 9:02:09 AM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE http://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
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To: thackney
he has the will and the ability to say what he thinks useful for getting votes now. What he says has no relationship to his comportment after the election.
43 posted on 09/19/2014 9:03:51 AM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE http://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
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To: ZULU
Choosing him as majority leader would be further rewarding incompetence and duplicity and cowardice.

It will be SOP for returning Republicans including some who ran as Conservatives supposedly against that sort of thing. So long as going to Congress opens up the path to permanent wealth and a guaranteed large pension the voters lose control and influence as soon as the polls are closed. The Tea Party firebrand goes to Washington and finds out, if he did not already know, that if he votes "properly" he will be wealthy for life even if he doesn't get re-elected. If he is obtuse and doesn't go along his income will be limited to his salary and pension no matter how long he stays. Very few will maintain any sort of principle in the face of that. After all, they are politicians and most of them lawyers to begin with.

44 posted on 09/19/2014 9:09:55 AM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE http://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
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To: DiogenesLamp

Aye! Keel haul the lying, spineless traitor.


45 posted on 09/19/2014 9:31:35 AM PDT by mcshot (Kenya now says 0 or Soebarkah born in U.S..)
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To: thackney

Well, if voters want liberal candidates, we shall soon see which liberal
candidate they chose in Ky. Two liberal candidates are running in Ky.
McConnell and Grimes.


46 posted on 09/19/2014 10:13:25 AM PDT by tennmountainman (True conservatives don't like being rained on by their own party!)
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To: paint_your_wagon
Maybe he could have offered to reach across the aisle to work with TEA party conservatives.

So please tell me how that would repeal Obamacare.

Obama has a veto pen. Elections have consequences; when a far left liberal is elected, do you think the right can get anything it wants?

Unrealistic. That's why we have to have the House, Senate and WH to get real stuff done. Blaming your leaders so much when a liberal man is in the WH is just stabbing yourself in the back.

47 posted on 09/19/2014 10:18:49 AM PDT by what's up
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To: cuban leaf

David Patterson is on the ballot. Libertarian candidate from Harrodsburg, KY.


48 posted on 09/19/2014 10:28:54 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise, beating down the multitudes and scoffing at the wise.")
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To: molson209

Spot on, roll back the filibuster vote number and make nice with the other liberals at the Club, bi-partisanship, be pals...

I am not advocating a third party I am advocating we get a real second party and give people a choice.


49 posted on 09/19/2014 10:30:20 AM PDT by sarge83
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To: ItsOurTimeNow

No chance whatsoever to even make a dent.


50 posted on 09/19/2014 10:41:32 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: thackney

Well first Mitch you need to win your senate race and then you and your GOPe sychophants need to motivate the rest of us to go out in sufficient numbers to take the Senate back. Then we can talk about the Keystone pipeline and other things we will expect you to do.


51 posted on 09/19/2014 11:08:12 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: what's up

We had the house, senate and Presidency not that long ago.
What exactly gone done other than spend like drunken sailors.
In fact, the only administration in American history that spent more
than Bush Jr. is Obama.
So what exactly are you talking about?


52 posted on 09/19/2014 12:00:17 PM PDT by tennmountainman (True conservatives don't like being rained on by their own party!)
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To: thackney

Dear mitch,
If you want to put it in terms of sports. Stick our head in the strike box and take one for the team. Instead of putting your head in the dark place.


53 posted on 09/19/2014 12:03:37 PM PDT by glyptol
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To: tennmountainman
My main point is that it's a fantasy that McConnell can repeal Obamacare as the poster suggested.

Bush never put Obamacare in place. It's the GOP that fended it off, in fact when Hillary tried to do it in the nineties. And not one GOP member voted in favor of Obamacare.

54 posted on 09/19/2014 12:15:30 PM PDT by what's up
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To: what's up

That is true. But not that long ago, the GOP, which controlled all three
branches of GOVT spent like drunken sailors on everything else.

Are you aware Bush Jr. did not veto one single bill during his eight years
in office?


55 posted on 09/19/2014 12:42:19 PM PDT by tennmountainman (True conservatives don't like being rained on by their own party!)
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To: tennmountainman

President George W. Bush vetoed twelve bills.

http://www.senate.gov/reference/Legislation/Vetoes/BushGW.htm


56 posted on 09/19/2014 12:45:33 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: thackney

I stand corrected. Thanks for correcting my mistake.


57 posted on 09/19/2014 1:36:25 PM PDT by tennmountainman (True conservatives don't like being rained on by their own party!)
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To: tennmountainman

It did take him a while, skipped his first several years, but finally found that pen. Least amount since JFK.


58 posted on 09/19/2014 3:26:02 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: cuban leaf

True. But I can, in good conscience, vote for Patterson...whereas I can’t for McConnell or Grimes.


59 posted on 09/22/2014 4:59:44 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise, beating down the multitudes and scoffing at the wise.")
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To: ItsOurTimeNow

I confess that as the day approaches and I examine Grimes’ personal record, I may find myself doing the same. But I have to do some research. It won’t be hard...


60 posted on 09/22/2014 6:06:03 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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