Boehner: Obama veto is ‘national embarrassment’

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday assailed President Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL bill, calling his rejection of the pipeline an embarrassment for the country.

“The president’s veto of the Keystone jobs bill is a national embarrassment,” Boehner said in a statement Tuesday after Obama rejected legislation that would have authorized construction of the oil sands pipeline.

{mosads}“It’s embarrassing when Russia and China are plowing ahead on two massive pipelines and we can’t get this one no-brainer of a project off the ground,” he said.

Echoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Boehner said the GOP is not giving up on its effort to approve the Canada-to-Texas pipeline.

Republicans have vowed to hold votes in both chambers to override Obama’s veto — a heavy lift, requiring two-thirds of each of the House and Senate.

Democrats have vowed to sustain Obama’s veto.

The Speaker portrayed Obama’s rejection of the Keystone bill as cowering to pressure from environmentalists.

“The president is just too close to environmental extremists to stand up for America’s workers,” Boehner said. “He’s too invested in left-fringe politics to do what presidents are called on to do, and that’s put the national interest first.”

The House’s top Republican said large groups of Americans are depending on approval of Keystone, including workers who would get the 42,000 jobs it would temporarily support, small businesses counting on the business construction would bring, and governors who want the revenue and manufacturers.