Obama: ‘Too Often’ Keystone ‘Was Used as Campaign Cudgel by Both Parties’

“Now, for years, Keystone Pipeline has occupied what I frankly consider an overinflated role in our political discourse. It became a symbol too often used as a campaign cudgel by both parties, rather than a serious policy matter. And all of this obscure the fact that this pipeline would neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane to climate disaster, proclaimed by others. 

To illustrate this, let me briefly comment on some of the reasons why the State Department rejected this pipeline. First, the pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy. So, if Congress is serious about wanting to create jobs, this was not the way to do it. 

If they want to do it, what we should be doing is passing a bipartisan infrastructure plan that in the short term could create more than 30 times as many jobs per year as the pipeline would, and in the long run would benefit our economy and our workers for decades to come. You know, our business has created 268,000 new jobs, last month. They created 13.5 million new jobs over the past 68 straight months, the longest streak on record. The unemployment rate fell to 5 percent. 

This Congress should pass a serious infrastructure plan and keep those jobs coming. That would make a difference. The pipeline would not have made a serious impact on those numbers and on the American people’s prospects for the future.”