In the GOP response to President Obama's State of the Union address, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst called the legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline the "Keystone jobs bill."
Certainly, that's what Republicans want the American public to think—that it's a "jobs bill." Unfortunately, they haven't checked in with the State Department, which found that the project would amount to only 35 permanent, full time jobs. And here's the Politifact breakdown on the 42,100 temporary construction jobs that Keystone would generate.
The State Department figures construction would require around 10,400 seasonal workers for stretches that would last either four or eight months. This works out to 3,900 "average annual" jobs over one year of construction, or 1,950 jobs each year if the project takes two years to finish. Construction work would be spread over four states, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, though most workers would be specialized and need to be brought in from outside those states, the report notes.
Just 1,950 jobs over a couple years of construction, plus the 35—that's what we're talking about here. Even Sen. Ernst herself admitted that Keystone would only "
support thousands of jobs."
Since last year, President Obama has been trying to convince Congress to pass a $302 billion infrastructure bill—the Grow America Act—that the White House says would create millions of jobs.
Some would call that an investment in America's future, not to mention money that flows straight back into the economy. But Republicans just aren't into that. They'd prefer several thousand jobs to millions.