Reid: Keystone 'won't lower the price of oil'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says that Republican claims that the Keystone XL pipeline will create tens of thousands of jobs and lower the price of oil just aren't true.

"This is something Republicans have raised as an issue to lower the price of oil," Reid told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday. "It won't lower the price of oil. Construction won't be complete for a long, long time. And under the way it's constructed now, all the oil would be sold elsewhere. We can't have that."

The Nevada Democrat also noted that there had been "many exaggerations about tens of thousands of jobs."

The conservative-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce has insisted that the pipeline would create "more than 250,000 permanent jobs," while House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has estimated "over 100,000 indirect jobs."

The U.S. State Department, however, calculated last year that the number was actually in the 5,000 to 6,000 range.

Many activists oppose the pipeline because of environmental concerns.

Watch this video from CNN's State of the Union, broadcast March. 11, 2012.

(H/T: The Hill)