Obama says Keystone decision may be announced in weeks or months

JUSTIN SINK

WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said a decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline is possible in weeks or months.

The President told Reuters in an interview on Monday that the decision definitely “will happen before the end of my administration.” Asked to be specific, he said, “Weeks or months.”

The comments came after the President on Feb. 24 vetoed Republican-backed legislation that would have cleared the way for construction of the TransCanada project, which is opposed by many environmental activists and supported by business and labor groups.

In a series of local television interviews on Feb. 25, Obama voiced skepticism over the pipeline that would carry crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. Gulf Coast, saying it would not create many permanent American jobs.

“Unfortunately, the Keystone pipeline has been hyped a lot by the oil industry, but the fact of the matter is this is Canadian oil being shipped through the United States and creates approximately 250, 300 permanent jobs,” Obama told KMBC-TV in Kansas City.

In the Reuters interview, the President also dismissed concerns that a key provision of his signature health-care law might be overturned by the Supreme Court, saying there was no “plausible legal basis” for that to happen.

Justices are set to hear oral arguments on Wednesday over whether residents in states that use the federal health-care marketplace are eligible to receive tax breaks to help them purchase coverage.

‘Straightforward Case’

“Look, this should be a pretty straightforward case of statutory interpretation,” Obama said.

“If you look at the law, if you look at the testimony of those who are involved in the law, including some of the opponents of the law, the understanding was that people who joined a federal exchange were going to be able to access tax credits just like if they went through a state exchange,” he said.

Obama also criticized moves by China that would require technology firms to provide the government with back door access to software programs. The President said the Chinese government’s mandates would be onerous and prevent U.S. firms from doing business in the country. He said he personally has raised his concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Tech Companies

The rules “would essentially force all foreign companies, including U.S. companies, to turn over to the Chinese government mechanisms where they can snoop and keep track of all the users of those services,” Obama said.

“As you might imagine, tech companies are not going to be willing to do that,” he said.

Obama warned that the rules could hurt the Chinese economy over the long term.

Obama also discussed the U.S.-Israel relationship and the killing on Feb. 27 of Boris Nemtsov, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.

“I have no idea at this point exactly what happened,” Obama said of Nemtsov’s murder. “What I do know is more broadly the fact that freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of information, basic civil rights and civil liberties inside of Russia are in much worse shape now than they were four or five, ten years ago.”

He said the U.S.-Israel relationship won’t be permanently damaged by a rift with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.