Mitt Romney: Obama Keystone decision ‘shocking’

On the campaign trail with Felicia Sonmez

Mitt Romney’s response to the Obama administration’s decision to deny a permit for the construction of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline?

The move is ”as shocking as it is revealing.”

“It shows a President who once again has put politics ahead of sound policy,” the former Massachusetts governor and GOP presidential frontrunner said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “If Americans want to understand why unemployment in the United States has been stuck above 8 percent for the longest stretch since the Great Depression, decisions like this one are the place to begin.”

In announcing the decision, President Obama said the government did not have enough time to review the oil pipeline, which would have crossed the United States fromCanada to Texas. The administration will allow builder TransCanada to reapply for a permit after it alters the route to sidestep Nebraska’s Sandhills.

Romney echoed congressional Republican criticism by charging that the move to deny the pipeline permit was based on political rather than policy calculations.

“By declaring that the Keystone pipeline is not in the ‘national interest,’ the president demonstrates a lack of seriousness about bringing down unemployment, restoring economic growth, and achieving energy independence,” Romney said. “He seems to have confused the national interest with his own interest in pleasing the environmentalists in his political base.”

On the campaign trail Wednesday afternoon, one of Romney’s rivals for the GOP nod, former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), decried the administration’s decision as a “stunningly stupid thing to do,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

“There’s no better word,” Gingrich said at an event in Warrensville, S.C., according to the Times. “These people are so out of touch with reality, it’s as if they were governing Mars.”

The back-and-forth over the pipeline pushes back to the forefront an issue that had receded over while Congress has been out of session.

A provision requiring a decision from the Obama administration on the pipeline by late February was included as part of a ferociously debated measure to extend the payroll tax holiday for two months. During a showdown on the tax credit extension, Obama relented on the pipeline, and the legislation was approved by Congress late last month.

Hence, the State Department’s refusal on the pipeline was not unexpected – and indeed, officials had warned during the payroll tax debate that any move to force a speedy decision on the pipeline would compel them to reject the permit request.

Republicans, however, believe they have the upper hand, arguing that even if the administration kills to the permit, Congress has options to keep the matter alive. On Wednesday, GOP lawmakers said they will ramp up pressure on the administration to approve the pipeline, which they argue would lead to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.

(For more on the jobs claims being made by members of both parties, read The Fact Checker Glenn Kessler’s look at the issue last month.)

”The president is selling out American jobs for politics,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said at a news conference. He later added: “There are legislative vehicles that we’ll be moving in the weeks and months ahead, and Republicans on Capitol Hill will continue to do everything we can to make this decision a positive decision for our country.”

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Tex.), Republican Conference chairman, also took aim at the decision, saying that “after studying Keystone for 3 years, 20,000 shovel-ready jobs just got buried.”