Why Did Iowa Rep. Loebsack Vote for Keystone Pipeline?

Second District Iowa Democrat Rep. Dave Loebsack invited my husband Jim and me to a fund-raising event for himself at the Sanctuary. We received the invitation yesterday or the day before.

“We just gave him money!” Jim protested.

True. Rep. Loebsack was just reelected to the U.S. House, the only Democrat from Iowa elected or reelected to Congress.

Immediately, I called Rep. Loebsack’s office in Iowa City and asked if it was true, as I’d heard, that Rep. Loebsack voted for the Keystone Pipeline.

“Yes,” a woman working in his office replied.

“Why?” I asked.

“Jobs,” she replied succinctly.

“Then I’ll never give him another dime,” I said, and hung up.

Then I tore up Loebsack’s fund-raiser invitation to the Sanctuary.

Would I rather have Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks as my representative to Congress? Not on your life. I interviewed her once on one of the earlier occasions she ran against Loebsack, and I was startled by her overt partisanship over common sense; that is, her willingness to favor taking “personal responsibility” for one’s health, as she put it, over opportunities for health insurance for Americans who are sick, otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a., Obamacare.

Rep. Loebsack would never vote against the Affordable Care Act. Miller-Meeks would. However, when we elect Democrats, we need to know that they are real Democrats, not Republican-Lites.

Why on earth would Dave Loebsack vote for the Keystone Pipeline? Any jobs created would be temporary and definitely not worth the long-term risks to our environment. Why should we let Canada put our country at risk to move oil from Canadian tar sands to the Gulf ports for export to other countries? If it’s so safe, let them transport their oil over their own country for export.

If Loebsack has taken money from lobbyists to vote for the Keystone Pipeline, and I’m not saying he has, although his vote is mighty suspicious, he sure doesn’t need my money, particularly so soon after he was reelected. Something smells bad about his vote for the Keystone Pipeline and his mid-January fundraiser and I don’t like it.