A U.S. Senate committee soon to be led by Republicans will hold a hearing this week on legislation to approve TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline, bypassing the current review by the Obama administration.
The energy committee hearing on Jan. 7, a day after Congress reconvenes, will help get a Keystone measure “to the floor as soon as possible,” Robert Dillon, a spokesman for the panel, said in an e-mail.
President Barack Obama’s administration is continuing its review of the project, though a final recommendation has been paused until resolution of a court challenge to the pipeline’s path in Nebraska. Obama could veto any bill passed by Congress, and an override of his action requires two-thirds support.
Pipeline supporters came within a vote of passing on Nov. 18 a similar measure that would let TransCanada build the cross-border project, as proposed. The Senate bill failed even with pressure from co-sponsor and Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who cajoled colleagues to back the measure as a boost to her re-election. Landrieu lost a run-off election on Dec. 6.
Votes Vowed
Sen. Mitch McConnell, incoming majority leader, has vowed to make Keystone the first bill passed in 2015. House Speaker John Boehner also plans to push a bill.
The House plans to vote on the legislation in the first two weeks of the session, Matt Sparks, an aide to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, said in an e-mail.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who takes over as energy committee chairman after Republicans won control of the Senate, also intends to move quickly to get action on the bill, Dillon said. A vote by the full chamber probably won’t occur until after Obama’s State of the Union speech on Jan. 20.
Democratic Representatives Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Raul Grijalva of Arizona in a letter asked Boehner not to rush a vote on the bill.
“It is our understanding that you may schedule” a vote “during the first two weeks” of the Congress, they wrote.
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