Every time Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) opens her mouth, I want to stand up and slow clap. She didn’t let me down at the first Energy Committee hearing of the year, at which Warren cranked open a can of her secret-recipe whoop-ass on the new Republican Congress. This time, it was to announce a snarky yet eloquent “HELL NO” on the subject of the Keystone XL pipeline. Here are a few highlights from her spiel.
Warren starts with some real talk on why Republicans want to pass the bill:
It’s not about jobs, it’s not about energy. Why is this bill so urgent? The answer is money. Money and power. The pipeline might not do much for the American people, but it is worth a whole lot to the Canadian oil industry.
And adds, with gusto:
Who does this new Republican Congress work for: foreign oil companies or the American people? Today, their first priority is to advance a pipeline that means a whole lot to an army of well-paid lobbyists, and a whole lot to a giant, foreign oil company.
Now that is a whole lot of legitimate points. But here’s where she sinks the jump shot at the final buzzer:
… we know that this pipeline runs terrible environmental risks, and it just won’t do much to help the American people. I didn’t come here to do favors for TransCanada. Republican leaders may disagree, but I’ll be voting no on this.
SEE? You’re slow-clapping, too.
Even though Warren and most other Democrats will be voting against the Senate bill to approve Keystone, it has enough support to pass. And the House version will pass, too. Fortunately, Obama announced his intent to veto the bill earlier this week — and there aren’t enough supporters to overcome that veto.
Meanwhile, if Warren’s speech is a sneak peek into what Democrats are becoming in their new, underdog position, C-SPAN might just become the new ESPN. GO FIGHT WIN, WARREN.
