Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
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WASHINGTON -- Lifting the U.S. ban on crude oil exports is a smart move that will benefit not only North Dakota, but also our nation and our allies. That’s why I am working to include legislation lifting the ban in the new highway bill that Congress is on track to pass shortly. It is must-pass legislation, which means it will be hard for the president to veto, and the benefits of allowing crude oil exports are multiple. When taken together, they make a powerful case for allowing our producers to market their product on the world market.
This week, the Washington Post Fact Checker awarded President Barack Obama its maximum of four Pinocchios for claiming in an interview with Fargo’s WDAY TV that the Keystone XL pipeline “is for Canadian oil to send that down to the Gulf” and that “it bypasses the United States.” The Post Fact Checker disagreed: “When Obama first started making the claim that the crude oil in the Keystone pipeline would bypass the United States, we wavered between Three and Four Pinocchios — and strongly suggested he take the time to review the State Department report.
Last week, we saw news stories across the nation featuring new data from the Federal Aviation Administration showing the frequency of near accidents involving unmanned aircraft and commercial flights. Near accidents are a serious issue, and I believe they drive home the importance of using the nation’s six unmanned aerial systems test sites to integrate unmanned aircraft safely into the national airspace. In 2012, I worked hard to include language in the FAA Reauthorization bill that directed the agency to establish the test sites to safely integrate UAS into the National Airspace System.
This month, we saw a change in leadership in the Senate that I hope will help us address some long-delayed priorities for our nation. I believe one of the top priorities for the new Congress will be to stop unnecessary regulatory burdens from hampering job creation in North Dakota and across the nation. A prime example is the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Waters of the U.S. rule. On March 25, the EPA and the U.S.
This week, Congress came together to pass a new, bipartisan five-year farm bill for North Dakota and the American people. As a member of the farm bill conference committee, I worked with the conferees to craft a compromise bill that could gain support in both the House and the Senate, as well as with Republicans and Democrats.