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The House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation giving the makers of the Keystone pipeline the go-ahead to build the fourth and final section of the oil transportation system. Republicans have already sanctioned the construction of the XL portion of the pipeline eight times but today it passed language identical to a bill under consideration in the Senate by a vote of 252-161.The Democratically-controlled upper chamber has long declined to vote on the matter but had a change of heart on Wednesday after Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana begged her colleagues to immediately bring the legislation to the floor.

According to Sen. Jim Inhofe, there may be enough Democratic votes to override President Barack Obama’s expected veto of legislation to authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The Oklahoma Republican said that Democrats who survived their party's big defeat in the midterm elections want to keep their distance from the president — so much so that many of them would vote to override a possible veto on the pipeline. "After the beating the Democrats took, keep in mind we have another election coming up in 2016," Inhofe told WMAL Radio on Thursday, The Washington Free Beacon reported. "There are...

Makes me wonder about Barack Hussein Obama's "peaceful actions." Two hundred twenty one Republicans and 31 Democrats in the U. S. House voted on Friday, November 14, 2014, to approve the overly debated Keystone oil pipeline to be constructed from our Canadian friends to the north to the eagerly awaiting refineries in the southwestern area of the United States. It was sent to the Senate where a struggle between conservative Republicans and Obama, with his group of anti-jobs and country conscientious objectors, will take every effort to imitate Obama’s Rev. Wright’s country condemnation of “God Damn America” to kill the...

President Obama is fond of telling Congress that it should pass things with the overwhelming support of the American people, including (among other things) comprehensive immigration reform, increasing the minimum wage, and increasing gun background checks. And yet, Obama could soon be in a position of vetoing something with a similar amount of support: the Keystone XL pipeline. Poll after poll has shown support for Keystone is somewhere between very strong and overwhelming. A Pew Research Center survey this month showed support for the project at nearly two-to-one, 59 percent to 31 percent. And that was about the lowest level...

On Friday, an overwhelming majority of House members passed legislation sponsored by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) which approved construction of the long-delayed Keystone XL Pipeline. By 252 to 161, the House opted to send the measure to the U.S. Senate, where it will face a vote from the upper chamber next week which could, for the first time, force the president to determine whether to approve or veto the oil transit route. 31 Democratic representatives voted with every Republican member of Congress save Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who voted present, to approve construction of the pipeline. It is an...

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 519 (Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic ; Independents underlined ) H R 5682 RECORDED VOTE 14-Nov-2014 12:52 PM QUESTION: On Passage BILL TITLE: To approve the Keystone XL Pipeline … … … … … 221 … 1 11 Democratic 31 161 … 9 Independent … … … … TOTALS 252 161 1 20 ---- AYES 252 --- Aderholt Amodei Bachmann Bachus Barr Barrow (GA) Benishek Bentivolio Bilirakis Bishop (GA) Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Boustany Brady (PA) Brady (TX) Brat Bridenstine Brooks (AL) Brooks (IN) Broun (GA) Buchanan Bucshon Burgess Byrne Calvert Camp Capito...

The House of Representatives passed a bill expediting the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline on Friday, thrusting Congress back into the debate over a long-stalled project lauded by proponents as a job creator and reviled by foes as an environmental disaster. The bill passed by a margin of 252 to 161. This is the ninth time the House has passed such a bill on the pipeline. The Senate has planned a vote on a similar proposal next Tuesday. The long-simmering debate over the pipeline's construction reached a sudden boil earlier this week when a group of lawmakers, led...

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday as Senate supporters worked to line up 60 votes to send the measure to the White House. The 252-161 House vote came amid jockeying by two Louisiana lawmakers — Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy and Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu — to be seen winning authorization for the pipeline before voters decide which of them serves in the Senate next year. Cassidy said it’s past time for the United States to authorize Keystone XL, six years after Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. first asked for permits to construct the pipeline...

Current news reports say that Harry Reid will allow a vote on the Keystone Pipeline so that Mary Landrieu can register her support, and thus improve her chances in the December Senate election in Louisiana, even as the Democratic majority votes it down. The theory behind this move is the usual Democratic assumption that voters are dumb, and will not realize that the Senate vote is a charade, designed to fool them into believing that Landrieu actually supports Keystone and is not in cahoots with Harry Reid and the enviro-zealots and billionaires who back and bankroll the party.  (Even...

Sen. Mary Landrieu is looking for a win-win, as she pushes for a Senate vote to approve the long-delayed Keystone pipeline in a bid to deliver a victory for the energy industry -- and for herself, in a tough runoff election next month. The senator is facing Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy after being forced into the runoff. Within hours of returning to Capitol Hill, Landrieu called for a Senate vote on the Keystone bill, which is now teed up for next Tuesday. Republicans responded swiftly to Landrieu's maneuvering, scheduling a vote in the House as early as Thursday on an...

Before her remarks, Landrieu was spotted riding the escalator alone up from the Senate trains that carry lawmakers between their offices and the Capitol, toward a row of elevators. She was stone-faced and declined to answer questions from reporters. Once she reached the top level and stepped off, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of his party’s top campaign strategists, walked over. Smiling, he asked Landrieu to step aside for a private conversation. She shook her head and moved briskly toward the elevator. As she did, she pointed to her phone, saying she had a call. Schumer paused for a...

The White House is hinting that President Obama will veto any bill authorizing the construction of the Keystone Pipeline. One of the few bi-partisan pieces of legislation is threatened by the most partisan president in history. The Hill: The White House on Thursday hinted that President Obama could veto congressional legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline as lawmakers in both the House and Senate were readying votes on the controversial construction project. "Our dim view of these kinds of proposals has not changed,” press secretary Josh Earnest said. Earnest reiterated that the State Department was still reviewing the controversial pipeline...

How desperate are Democrats to salvage the one Senate seat they still haven’t quite lost in the midterm elections? Desperate enough to anger their environmental-progressive base and threaten their ability to compete in 2016? It may come down to that question in the lame-duck Senate over the last few days of the Democratic majority. The Washington Post reports that Harry Reid and his caucus may try rescuing Mary Landrieu by passing an approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project, a key policy goal for Republicans and a big economic issue in Louisiana: Senate Democrats are working on plans to...

Senate Democrats are working on plans to hold a vote authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline -- approval that Democrats believe might bolster the chances of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who faces a tough runoff election next month. It was not immediately clear Tuesday night whether Republicans would consent to proceeding with such a vote during the lame-duck session that begins on Wednesday -- especially given the high stakes surrounding Landrieu's reelection race. Such a move would also draw howls from the environmental movement who had hoped that President Obama would resolve a years-long dispute over a long-awaited energy...

One clear winner on election night was energy. While the economy may have been voters' primary concern and the president's health care law second, energy issues played a key role, especially in those states that gave Republicans control of the Senate. It's a message that those newly elected senators, all of whom stressed their support for expanding energy development, aren't likely to forget. And it's one that Senate Majority Leader-elect Mitch McConnell, who repeatedly stressed his support for the Kentucky coal industry in his campaign, will push to the forefront. First should come the easy stuff. There is bipartisan support...

Canada's Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Thursday the government remains committed to the Keystone XL pipeline project and that he believes "at the end of the day" it will gain approval. TransCanada Corp's $8 billion Keystone XL project would carry Alberta oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf coast. The project has been awaiting presidential approval for more than six years, but this week's U.S. mid-term elections revived the issue after Republicans took control of Congress. U.S. Senate Republicans will push ahead early next year with a bill to approve the long-stalled pipeline. "We remain committed to the project,"...

TransCanada, raised estimated capital costs for Keystone XL project to C$8 billion ($7.02 billion) from an initial projection of C$5.4 billion, citing lengthy delays. Keystone XL, which would carry Alberta oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has been awaiting U.S. presidential permit for more than six years...

The jubilant leader of the Republicans in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, on Wednesday challenged Barack Obama to find common ground with Congress after the Democrats’ crushing defeat in the US midterm elections threatened to test the limits of the president’s power during his final two years in office. In an ambitious speech hours after his party gained control of both houses of Congress, McConnell warned Obama not to “poison the well” by pushing forward with unilateral action on immigration reform, and promised to introduce legislation that would permit the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline, bitterly opposed by environmentalists. Obama, meanwhile,...

On the Thursday after Democrats’ drubbing at the polls, White House Press Sec. Josh Earnest appeared on CNN where he doubled down on Barack Obama’s insistence that the areas where there was likely to be grounds for compromise were initiatives of key importance to the American left. In his speech yesterday, Barack Obama inexplicably cited “roads and bridges,” universal pre-kindergarten funding, and increasing the minimum wage as places where ascendant Republicans should compromise their principles. Each of these proposals are also, coincidentally, bullet points on the progressive wish lists he calls State of the Union Addresses. Somehow, Obama was unable...

If I were advising the White House right now, I would encourage President Obama to take advantage of the end of this year's election cycle—the next fifty or so days—to immediately try to change the subject, in a big way. The Obama administration should act right away to use its executive powers to take steps to deal with long-ignored issues that need to be dealt with for the good of the nation. This cannot be done quietly. To change the media narrative, issues acted upon will have to be controversial enough to dominate the news. President Obama should embrace good...