Posted on 11/06/2014 4:36:14 AM PST by thackney
President Barack Obama should demonstrate his commitment to working with Republicans in control of Congress by permitting the Keystone XL pipeline, Sen. John Hoeven said Wednesday.
Hoeven and other Senate Republicans are making plans to advance a bill authorizing the controversial project early next year, as one of their first legislative moves after taking control of the chamber.
While some Senate races are not yet decided, Hoeven, R-N.D., said he already counts at least 60 votes in favor of his legislation to approve the pipeline using Congress’ authority under the Foreign Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
Although that’s enough votes to thwart a filibuster and advance legislation in the Senate, it is shy of the 67 necessary to override a presidential veto.
“After the first of the year, we’ll bring the bill forward as is, we’ll have more than 60 to pass it, and we’ll do so, and then we’ll send it to the president and see if he’s willing to work with us,” Hoeven said in an interview Wednesday. “If he doesn’t — if he does veto it — we may not have 67 votes to override a veto, but clearly we can bring it back, either attaching it to broader energy legislation or (a spending) measure.”
Republicans could add the legislation to a spending bill funding part of the federal government or even pair it with a separate measure designed to accelerate natural gas exports. And Hoeven said it’s possible Republicans could get to 67 votes by picking up a handful of Democrats who have either said the government’s scrutiny of Keystone XL is taking too long or supported non-binding resolutions endorsing the project.
But Hoeven said he hopes it doesn’t get that far.
“The president opposes the project and has tried to defeat it with delay,” Hoeven said, but “given the clear vote from the American public and strong bipartisan support, he may decide it’s time to start working with Congress, and this is a good example of a place to start and why you’ll see us advance the measure early on.”
Obama signaled he was not ready to move on Keystone XL during an afternoon news conference to discuss election results. Instead, he stressed that a State Department review of the project is still underway.
The State Department has said it is waiting for the Nebraska Supreme Court to rule on a challenge to the pipeline’s route through the state before concluding its own Keystone XL review. Eight federal agencies still have to weigh in on the project.
“There’s an independent process. It’s moving forward, and I’m going to let that process play out,” Obama said. While that process is moving forward, he said, “I’m just going to gather up the facts.”
Obama noted that his “parameters” for judging Keystone XL included whether it is good for the pocketbook, good for job and whether it will exacerbate climate change.
Brigham McCown, a former pipeline regulator, suggested Obama could take a pragmatic approach to the project, if a bill authorizing it landed in his lap six years after TransCanada Corp. first asked for approval.
Signing legislation permitting Keystone XL — or even letting it become law 10 days later without a presidential signature — could give Obama political cover while ending the long debate over the project.
“After six years of this, he’s got to be weary of this issue,” McCown said. “Frankly, if I were the president, I’d want it to be taken out of my hands. I’d love for it to be in a bill. I might jump up and down and fuss about it, but good riddance, let’s get on with it, and it’s off his plate.”
I believe the republican have a veto proof congress. FUBO.
Override of a veto - The process by which each chamber of Congress votes on a bill vetoed by the President. To pass a bill over the president’s objections requires a two-thirds vote in each Chamber.
https://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/override_of_a_veto.htm
The Republicans do not have 67 Senators nor 290 Representatives in the House.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/?state=nwa
No they do not. Overriding a veto takes a 2/3 vote.
Jenny A. is a dreamer and with false hope, intentionally over looks the obvious. Obama is not going
to work with or compromise with the republicans on anything.
It will probably be the other way around.
“I believe the republican have a veto proof congress.
No they do not. Overriding a veto takes a 2/3 vote.”
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That’s true, but if McConnell was actually a STRATEGIC THINKER, in addition to the standard bills that Obama would likely sign, he’d advance a number of items that the American people would love but that Obama would veto. Force the’RATS in Congress to go on the record with their anti-American beliefs.
Will McConnell and Boehner actually do something like that? Probably not, it wouldn’t be “nice” or “collegial”. Let’s hope the conservatives in the House can put a damper on Boehner’s and McCarthy’s RINO/Amnesty desires.
So there is not the slightest chance that a few deamonrats
will cross the isle? Not a chance at all? Even after the
tard cost them the senate and the house and maybe their
job next election.
If it came up, they probably could probably impeach him right now.
Just saying, I know you meant the GOP alone, not including
some buthurt deamontards.
Of course there is.
That is not the same as claiming the Republicans have a veto proof congress.
It has to go into the budget bill. In fact, everything will have to go into the budget bill. And if Zero vetoes it, everyone will know exactly why that is.
Unless they watch the drive-bys, in which case, they’ll hear a drumbeat of “pork barrel politics” droned out by such luminaries as the non-news-networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) on their nightly non-news broadcasts.
And online, we’ll see the trolls come out against “crony capitalism”. Count on it.
Obama will not veto Keystone because:
Dems have been calling Republicans obstructionists for 4 years now, and that will be exposed as a lie.
Mr. Votes Present has never had to stick his neck out for a controversial vote, and he is not going to start, now.
Obama has been stringing Canada and the U.S. along for 6 years now on the Keystone Pipeline. If he vetoes the bill now, everyone will wonder why he kept everyone waiting and didn't just deny it 6 years ago.
I think he’ll rely on the court cases currently blocking it. All environazis will have to be given the Louis XVIth treatment if Keystone XL ultimately fails.
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