Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said he was befuddled by Hillary Clinton’s answer on whether to construct the Keystone XL pipeline. On the campaign trail earlier this week, Clinton avoided giving a direct yes or no answer regarding whether she would authorize the construction of the pipeline, and added that she would wait to provide any answer until after the 2016 presidential election, if President Obama had yet to make a decision.
Sanders, a socialist running as a Democrat for president, is adamantly opposed to the pipeline’s construction because of the resulting impact he believes it could have on the climate.
“Needless to say, I have a hard time understanding that response,” Sanders said. “If we are serious about the planetary crisis of climate change, and by the way … the debate is over. The scientific community is virtually unanimous in telling us climate change is real. … I have helped lead the effort against the Keystone pipeline.”
Sanders dodged commenting on Vice President Joe Biden’s possible entrance into the race and said he did not want to personally attack Clinton. But he added that in three months, he would be the Democratic candidate who has made inroads nationwide.
“We have made phenomenal progress in the last three months,” Sanders said. “We’re going to continue to make that kind of progress. … Let’s talk three months from now, I think you will see that our campaign made significant inroads all across the country.”
Sanders trails Clinton by nearly 40 percentage points according to RealClearPolitics’ average of polls.
