President Barack Obama is not listening to those in his own party by refusing to sign off on the Keystone XL Pipeline, Rep. Bob Latta of Ohio tells Newsmax.
"The president's listening to a very few in his party and, unfortunately, he's not looking at the good of the country," especially considering it could lead to North America becoming energy independent, Latta told John Bachman in an exclusive interview on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV.
"The president has been dragging his feet . . . and not making the right decision on this."
The other aspect of the Keystone pipeline that the Ohio Republican says makes it a "no-brainer" is the number of good jobs the project would create.
"It would create thousands and thousands and thousands of construction jobs, there would be other jobs that would come about because of it," Latta says. "[It] would help folks in my district because we'd be making parts and things like that for the project."
He said that in the first phase alone, 20,000 jobs are projected to be created by the project "and again those are good jobs."
According to Latta, there was a witness from Trans Canada called by the Republicans and a witness from the oil trade called by the Democrats to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which he is a member, "and they were both in lock step."
"The trade [witness] said we want to do this because look at all of the thousands of jobs that will benefit us, and they're scratching their heads that the president won't let them do this and get this going."
The State Department
released a report last Friday saying the effect the Keystone XL Pipeline would have on climate change would be minimal.
Republican congressional leaders have since called on the president to approve the project.
House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement that "President Obama is out of excuses," calling Obama's delay in approving the pipeline "economic malpractice" since it is expected to create "more than 100,000 jobs."
Democrats who are considered vulnerable in the upcoming midterm elections have also called on Obama to grant approval for the pipeline.