Posted on 05/05/2014 5:37:33 AM PDT by thackney
The vote to authorize immediate construction of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline may come to a crucial head next week, as two Senators introduced a bill on Thursday calling for binding legislation.
(Excerpt) Read more at nation.foxnews.com ...
Keystone pipeline issue looms as Senate takes up energy bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/keystone-pipeline-issue-looms-as-senate-takes-up-energy-bill/2014/05/04/ac262964-d21a-11e3-a6b1-45c4dffb85a6_story.html
GOP leaders have pushed to get an amendment on the Shaheen-Portman bill that would allow them to simply mandate the construction of the pipeline, overriding the ongoing review by the State Department as it considers how to handle 2.5 million public comments on the proposal and an ongoing lawsuit in Nebraska trying to alter the route. That review, with a further delay announced two weeks ago, seems certain to last past November and possibly into next year.
Reid offered Republicans a separate vote on a bill that would be a clean Keystone vote, nothing else, requiring 60 votes to overcome the filibuster of liberal senators opposed to the proposal. The key then is getting 60 votes, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), the co-sponsor with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) of the Keystone amendment, told reporters Thursday.
Landrieu is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and one of the most endangered incumbents seeking reelection this fall.
By the end of the week, Hoeven said he had not secured at least 60 votes, to some degree because of the confusion surrounding whether it would be part of the Shaheen-Portman bill or a freestanding vote. Some Democrats who have previously supported the bill have been hesitant to support a Keystone amendment, out of fear that Obama would veto the entire package because of the controversial measure, torpedoing the underlying energy legislation.
Schumer was on the tube this morning talking about working a deal on the minimum wage by tying it with the Keystone approval. A deal like that wouldn’t surprise me. The question then becomes will the House go along and if they do then will Obama vetoe it?
They figure they can support this because OZero will vero it anyway.
The key is getting 66+ votes who will stick to override the veto.
Only if Obama does not have the ability to veto one part but not the other. And if the jobs created have to go to US citizens.
The question is how many democratic US Senators in the pro- real energy states are up for re-election. (how did I become so cynical?)
Lemme guess... led by soon to be ex senators Landreau, Pryor, Begitch and Hagan.
How much money is the little slimy corrupt crook droopy pants reid going to get to line his pockets?
I don’t think they cab do it. It takes Presidential approval and I don’t believe they can override his disapproval. In other words, Obama is the last word.
I agree.
That is just for show and to fool the sheep. In other words, an election trick, along the line of the Republicans shouting, “Elect me and I will defund obamacare!” Once the election is over, it is promptly forgotten.
“I dont think they cab do it. It takes Presidential approval and I dont believe they can override his disapproval.”
I was kind of wondering about that. There are thousands of pipelines in the US. Was presidential approval needed for all of them?
Schumer wants to put the turd on the GOP plate...no matter how it plays out!
Obama might let it go through telling the moonbats his hands were tide then taking credit for the economic boost.
Harry Reid will find a way to ditch this in File 13 along with everything else.
Waaay past time for that to happen.
Fine, make him veto it.
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