A top priority for a Republican-led Senate will be to send President Barack Obama a bill to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline and dare him to veto it.
While most senators support TransCanada Corp.’s proposed $8 billion Canada-to-U.S. oil pipeline, the Senate under a Democratic majority hasn’t held a binding vote on it since 2012. The Republican-controlled House has repeatedly voted to permit the pipeline’s construction.
Advocates say the shift in Senate leadership next year will give them more leverage in the oil-versus-environment debate that has raged since TransCanada applied for a permit in 2008. While they say they have at least the 60 votes needed to get a bill through Congress, they will lack the two-thirds margin to override a presidential veto.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, poised to lead the Republican majority in January, said at a news conference on Nov. 5 that the Senate will take up legislation approving Keystone XL as part of a broader debate on energy policy that will “embrace the energy revolution” in the U.S.
“We need to do everything we can to get America back to work,” McConnell, of Kentucky, said earlier in an interview published on Time magazine’s website.
More leverage
Some business supporters of the pipeline say Republican leaders may get more leverage by not rushing ahead with a vote.
The State Department suspended its review of the project in April after a Nebraska state court ruled against the process under which Governor Dave Heineman approved the route through his state. The case is now before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Karen Harbert, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, said Obama could more easily explain a veto of legislation if Congress passes it before the Nebraska court and State Department finish their deliberations.
The president could simply say the process needs to continue before Congress tries to step in, she said.
“They will have to be strategic in how they advance this, rather than trying to score an immediate political point,” Harbert said.
Not optimistic
Others say they’re not optimistic about forcing the president’s hand under any circumstances.
“This president is not going to approve Keystone,” said Michael McKenna, a Republican strategist on energy policy and president of the MWR Strategies lobbying group in Midlothian, Virginia. “It’s a religious item among environmentalists. He’s just not going to approve it, and that’s that.”
This week’s election will put Republican supporters of the pipeline in charge of Senate energy-related panels when Congress convenes in January.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is set to become chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources panel. The oil and natural gas industries can count on her advocacy of Keystone, expanded domestic drilling and U.S. energy exports.
Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee is expected to take over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which oversees the State Department. He has called Obama’s refusal to approve the pipeline illogical and harmful to the economy.
Also, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who has said warnings of climate change are “the biggest hoax perpetrated on the America people,” has enough seniority to take the gavel at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He would replace Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California, one of the chamber’s most ardent Keystone foes.
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