House passes Keystone Pipeline- Hartzler: It's long overdue

(From Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler)

Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (MO-4) and the U.S. House have accomplished their first major goals of the 114th Congress, passing important legislation in the first week of the new session. The House has approved the Keystone XL Pipeline; it has voted to restore the traditional 40-hour full-time work week; and it has approved a bill to make the hiring of our veterans more attractive to employers.

“Construction of the Keystone pipeline is long overdue and, with a new Republican-controlled Senate in place, there is an opportunity to move forward,” said Hartzler. “It has been more than four years since backers of the Keystone pipeline first submitted an application to the U.S. State Department to build this project to create jobs and bring greater energy security to the United States. An extensive environmental review was completed in August of 2011, demonstrating there would be limited adverse environmental impacts during construction and operation. I urge President Obama to embrace this component of our ‘all-of-the-above’ energy policy that is expected to create tens of thousands of American jobs and ensure America’s energy security.”

“In another important vote, the House approved legislation to restore the 40-hour work week,” Hartzler continued. “The Save American Workers (SAW) Act, H.R. 30, would repeal the 30-hour definition of ‘full-time employment’ in President Obama’s health care law. The sad truth of the matter is that when the 30-hour provision took effect, employers sought refuge from the onerous government mandate by cutting workers’ hours. This presented a hardship for many working Americans who saw their hours reduced or who lost their full-time jobs and are working two or more part-time jobs to compensate - and they still don’t have health care! The consequences of ObamaCare’s full-time definition have hurt families in Missouri’s Fourth District and across the country.”

“The House also approved the Hire More Heroes Act of 2015 which encourages employers to hire our honorable veterans and helps ease the penalty that small businesses incur under ObamaCare for hiring more than 50 people by exempting veterans from being counted toward the 50 employee threshold,” Hartzler added. “I am pleased to provide this help to our veterans and small businesses, but ObamaCare is hurting many more Missouri families and I will continue to work to repeal and replace this onerous law.”

Having been approved by the House, all three bills now move to the Senate for its consideration.