Controversy surrounding TransCanada Corp.’s long-delayed Keystone XL Pipeline continued on Nov. 18, when a bill to force approval for the pipeline fell one “yes” vote short of the 60 needed in the U.S. Senate for a filibuster-proof majority. All 45 Senate Republicans supported the bill, and were joined by 14 Democrats.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., attempted to garner bipartisan support for the bill in an effort to promote her role as a deal-maker between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. Recruiting enough support to pass the bill may have helped her in her re-election bid in the upcoming runoff election on Dec. 6 with Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy, according to The Wall Street Journal. Landrieu is currently polling 21 points behind Cassidy, Real Clear Politics reports.
Next year the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress will likely vote on the issue again. According to a statement issued by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who is poised to become Senate Majority leader of the 114th Congress, he plans on the Republican majority “taking up and passing the Keystone jobs bill early in the New Year.”
However, President Barack Obama has indicated that he may veto such legislation if it reaches his desk. In a Nov. 13 news conference, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest evaded the question of whether or not the president would veto a bill approving Keystone XL, stating that Obama would prefer ongoing litigation in Nebraska to continue, in addition to a U.S. State Department review of the pipeline.
‘Americans Want Action’
Groups connected with the energy industry expressed their disapproval of the Democrat majority’s failure to send the bill to Obama for approval or veto.
Terry O’Sullivan, general president the Laborers’ International Union of North America, made a statement on behalf of the half-million workers the union represents.
“Today’s failure of the U.S. Senate to authorize the Keystone XL Pipeline is a vote against all construction workers, a vote to keep good, middle-class jobs locked out of reach,” and a move that prevents the U.S. from obtaining energy independence, he said.
“Americans want action, they want jobs and they want leadership. Today’s Senate vote demonstrated none of the above,” O’Sullivan said. If Democrats hope to be “relevant with the working class,” they must put “job creation and the livelihoods of working men and women” first. He concluded, “If they cannot cast a vote for us, we cannot, and will not, cast a vote for them.”
American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard also expressed disappointment.
“A handful of senators blocked a long overdue decision on KXL defying the will of the American people,” Gerard said in a statement. “Instead of seizing a rare bipartisan opportunity to help American workers and strengthen our energy security, a few senators returned to politics as usual.” The vote, coming on the heels of an election upheaval in the Senate in which four Democrats opposed to Keystone XL lost their seats to four Republicans who support it, “doesn’t bode well for future bipartisanship,” Gerard said.
“Keystone XL is not going away. The president will have to deal with it, if not now then next year. We will work with the new Congress to focus on getting this important jobs project approved. We will not give up until the pipeline is built,” he added.
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