WASHNGTON -- U.S. Sens. Rob Portman and Pat Toomey are among 44 co-sponsors of legislation that would approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The senators, 43 Republicans and one Democrat, claim authority to approve the pipeline under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. On Jan. 18 President Obama announced it would deny the application for the pipeline, citing the "rushed and arbitrary deadline" insisted on by Republicans. The Obama Administration has earlier set a deadline for a decision on the pipeline past the 2012 elections. The legislation would allow TransCanada to construct and operate the pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. Gulf Coast, transporting an additional 830,000 barrels of oil per day to U.S. refineries. The bill would allow the company to move forward with construction of the pipeline in the United States while the state of Nebraska works to determine an alternative route. “We can’t wait for the president to drag his feet on this job-creating project any longer,” Toomey, R-Pa., said. “Instead of focusing on American energy security and putting people back to work, the president has chosen to appease environmental special interests instead. It’s time for Congress to step up and do what the president hasn’t -- authorize this pipeline and create tens of thousands of American jobs, increase our access to oil from our friends in Canada, and diminish our dependence on less secure sources of energy.” While the president said the 60-day provision included in December’s payroll tax cut extension bill didn’t give him enough time to review the project, Toomey and Portman said the administration spent 1,217 days reviewing the pipeline, and there was no time limit on the State Department’s ability to review the Nebraska portion of the project. “I had hoped the Obama administration would have supported the Keystone XL pipeline, one of the largest private sector infrastructure projects in the nation,” said Portman, R-Ohio, said. “This legislation enables us to move forward with the project, which will create tens of thousands of jobs, and likely benefit Ohio’s struggling manufacturing sector, despite President Obama’s rejection of it." Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.