Keystone XL Pipeline Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Madam President, I would like to talk about an amendment I filed along with my colleague Susan Collins of Maine to support the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the LIHEAP program.

As the Senate continues to debate whether to bypass a longstanding Presidential permitting process and essentially rubberstamp the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline--which, to be clear, would likely benefit major oil companies and could have a harmful consequence on our environment--I wish to take the opportunity to highlight a Federal program that helps our country's most vulnerable citizens, including seniors, meet their home energy needs.

The bipartisan amendment led by Senator Collins and me, along with several of our colleagues, expresses the sense of the Senate that the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program--better known as LIHEAP--should be funded at no less than $4.7 billion annually to ensure that more low-income households--those with children, senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and veterans--are able to access this critical assistance.

I must commend Senator Collins. She and I have taken the lead on this effort over many sessions of Congress. Her efforts are extraordinarily critical for the continued support of this program, and it is no surprise that once again we are both together urging our colleagues to support this program.

LIHEAP is the main Federal program that helps low-income families, seniors, individuals with disabilities, and a growing number of veterans across the country pay their energy bills. It provides vital assistance during the cold winter months often seen in the Northeast, the Northern Plains, and across the northern part of the country, and also during the summer months in areas of the Southeast and Southwest where air-conditioning is absolutely critical to the health and welfare of seniors. Unfortunately, we often read very disturbing reports of individuals, particularly seniors, with serious medical conditions that can become fatal because they simply can't afford the cost of air-conditioning or home heating.

This is not a program that is regionally specific; this is a program that has a national impact and, as such, has to be supported. It is an indispensable lifeline that ensures recipients do not have to choose between paying their energy bills and affording other necessities such as food and medicine.

The funding also supports many small businesses, such as oil heating companies. They see the benefits of LIHEAP as well. It goes to pay utility bills, which indirectly affects small businesses and individual ratepayers across a broad spectrum. So the benefits of this legislation are not just for the specific recipients but also for the overall economy of our States and for small businesses, and that has to be noted.

We also recognize that there are many more households eligible than receive the benefits simply because the funding levels are insufficient.

Despite bipartisan efforts over many years--again, with Senator Collins being right there--funding reductions in 2011 and 2012, along with sequester cuts, mean LIHEAP funding has declined more than 30 percent since fiscal year 2010, from $5.1 billion down to about $3.4 billion. This raises another bigger issue.

We have seen our deficit decline significantly, from 9.8 percent of gross domestic product now to about 2.8 percent. In fact, that is a little bit below the 40-year average of deficits in the United States. This hasn't been just because of magic; it is because we have been cutting programs. This is an example of one of the programs we have cut very significantly, and it is a program that aids so many people in our communities--particularly seniors and people with disabilities. This deficit reduction has been hard won, and one of the costs has been supporting these people. The money has shrunk, so obviously the number of people serviced has shrunk. The number of households LIHEAP funds has declined by 17 percent, from about 8.1 million households to 6.7 million households, and they have seen this impact directly. Those receiving assistance have also seen their average LIHEAP grant reduced by about $100, down to about $400. This is estimated to cover less than half of the average home heating costs for a household this winter, meaning that many low-income families and seniors will have fewer resources available to meet other basic needs.

I must point out that we are seeing a temporary reprieve from very high energy prices--particularly oil prices in the Northeast--because of geopolitical developments that have impacted the price of oil. But that is not the solution. The bills these people face, even in this economic climate as well as meteorological climate, are still significant and challenging to people of very limited means. For many people, this is an issue of safety, it is an issue of their health, and it is an issue of just being able to get by and make ends meet.

So the need is clear, and I urge my colleagues to join me in support of LIHEAP and in support of this amendment.

In this context, we need to be proactive in terms of recognizing something we can do on a bipartisan basis that works.

I do believe I should also comment at this moment on the underlying proposal, the Keystone XL Pipeline.

We understand this TransCanada pipeline would move crude oil from the Canadian tar sands--one of the dirtiest sources of fuel on the planet--to refineries on our gulf coast. There are many ways to extract hydrocarbons, and this is one of the most environmentally challenging ways. Constructing this pipeline runs counter to what we should be doing on a much broader basis, which is addressing climate change and protecting the environment.

I was struck yesterday at a meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee--and the Presiding Officer is a distinguished and very valuable member of that committee--where we listened to Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, two of the foremost experts on national security policy. General Scowcroft was National Security Adviser for President George Herbert Walker Bush, and Dr. Brzezinski was National Security Adviser for President Carter and was integral in negotiating the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. I was struck, when asked about the big issues we face, that General Scowcroft said: Well, there are two big issues--cyber security and climate change. When you have these very authoritative individuals--again on a bipartisan basis--essentially saying climate change is a big national security issue, that is the context in which we have to view so many things, in particular this issue of the Keystone Pipeline.

The second issue is the obvious need in this country to create jobs. In fact--no pun intended--that is job number 1 for us. Now, there are jobs associated with the pipeline. Even if they are of short duration, they are still pretty good jobs. But the point has to be made that we have to do much more--particularly for our construction workers--than one single pipeline. I have been told that long-term employment of the pipeline, once it is built--will be very small.

We have to do much more. That is why I think we have to be very serious about an infrastructure program that goes way beyond Keystone and includes roads, bridges, sewers--all these things we have let decline. If we look at the spending levels--once again, a victim of our deficit reduction, a victim of the cuts we have made--we are at a level now where we are not doing what our fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, and mothers did, which is invest a lot of money in building infrastructure for a productive America. We have been missing in action for the last several years as far as doing those things we used to do routinely--building new highways, building new sewer systems, improving our pollution control systems, all of those things. We have to do that.

We also have to do those things in the context of climate change--in other words, look at alternative energy and not just replicate what we did 20 or 30 years ago because this is a different planet.

According to the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor unions and environmental groups, repairing America's crumbling infrastructure could create 2.7 million jobs across the economy, increase GDP by $377 billion, while reducing carbon pollution and other greenhouse gas emissions. So it is not thousands of jobs; it is millions of jobs. It is not one project; it is a commitment to improving, advancing, and rehabilitating our infrastructure in every part of the country, while at the same time dealing with climate change, which is so central.

So, I would like to see us, as we move past this debate, move vigorously into a debate about infrastructure.

There is another issue too, and that is this debate about where the oil is going. Well, given the global market for petroleum products, it could go to parts of the United States, but it could easily go overseas. A lot of that is a factor of the price and the demand. We have seen a lot of oil going into Asia in particular. I think that trend will continue for several reasons. One reason is that they have done less, relatively speaking, than many other parts of the world in terms of lowering their dependence on oil and moving to alternative fuels. So the potential is that a significant amount, if not all, of this product--even though it reaches the gulf coast--will not be used in the United States. That is another factor we have to consider.

Bypassing the administration's traditional legislative review process with respect to Keystone is not the way to proceed. We have to get our energy policies right. I think we have to recognize climate change. We have to be sensitive to a whole host of issues. We also have to recognize that an energy policy is not just producing and getting these products into the marketplace, it is also making sure that very vulnerable Americans can afford these products, whatever their prices may be. That is where LIHEAP comes in.

I am very pleased, once again, that this is a continuation of a bipartisan effort Senator Collins and many others have pursued for the benefit of families all across this country. When we are doing that, I think we are doing the best possible work we can for our constituents and our Nation.

With that, Madam President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, this is a bipartisan amendment, which I am proud to sponsor with Senator Collins of Maine. It would express the sense of the Senate that we should fund LIHEAP, the Low Income Heating Assistance Program, at $4.7 billion. We have seen a significant diminution of the LIHEAP funding over the years.

This amendment helps every aspect of the country. It helps low-income households, particularly seniors. It would help immensely families throughout this country. In the winter it is about heating oil in New England and Alaska and all through the north and central plains. In the summer it is about cooling in the southwest and the southeast. If families and households can't get access to these resources, they have to make a hard choice between literally paying for their energy or sometimes their rent or sometimes their food. This program has been long supported on a bipartisan basis. We should aim for this figure.

I yield the floor.

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