A bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline cleared a major hurdle in the Senate by a 62 to 35 vote, bringing the Republican-controlled Congress a step closer to a confrontation with the White House, Roll Call reports.
Senate Republicans would need 67 votes to override a promised veto by President Obama.
President Obama proposed “to designate 1.4 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness, setting off a battle with the Republican-controlled Congress over oil and gas drilling in pristine areas of northern Alaska,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he was disappointed that the White House threatened to veto his legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing the president’s move was “not the way a democracy works,” The Hill reports.
Said Manchin: “He never even gave it a chance, never even gave it a chance. Now, that’s just not the way you do legislation. It’s not the way a democracy works. And it’s not the way the… three branches of government should work.”
The White House says President Obama would veto Keystone pipeline legislation, the AP reports.
A spokesman says there is a “well-established” review process that is being run by the State Department that should not be undermined by legislation.
First Read: “Beyond today’s drama in the House, it’s also the start of the new GOP-controlled U.S. Senate. But here’s something to chew on: Republicans now have complete control of Congress, and the first thing they want to get done is … the Keystone XL pipeline? That’s the statement they want to make after their midterm victories?”
“We get the politics of Keystone; we’ve been covering the issue for years now. But it’s such small ball — and it’s even smaller now in the midst of the lowest gas prices in years and 200,000-plus jobs being created each month. We’ve got to ask: All that money spent on the midterms, all that jockeying for control of the Senate, and first real statement from the new GOP majority is Keystone? It’s small-ball politics, whether you’re on the right, left or in the middle. It’s certainly no Contract with America.”
Even President Obama “likely would agree that 2014 has been a tough year for him—and he doubtless would welcome a sign that he will catch a break or two in 2015,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Well, here’s one: Low oil prices now appear likely to be with us deep into next year, at least, and they are shaping up as a win-win for the president. It’s hard to imagine a single development that carries so many upsides and so few downsides. The domestic economic benefits are obvious; more intriguing but less obvious are the ways low oil prices benefit American strategy around the world.”
The New York Times reports on an “unprecedented, secretive alliance” that Republican state attorneys general have formed with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda.
“Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year. They share a common philosophy about the reach of the federal government, but the companies also have billions of dollars at stake. And the collaboration is likely to grow: For the first time in modern American history, Republicans in January will control a majority — 27 — of attorneys general’s offices.”
First Read: “It’s possible — though hardly a certainty — that lower gas prices over a sustained period of time finally begin to change the public’s perception about the U.S. economy. After all, the economy has produced 200,000-plus jobs in each of the past nine months; GDP for the last quarter was revised up to a healthy 3.9%; and the unemployment rate has declined from 7.0% in Nov. 2013 to 5.8% now. But many Americans haven’t been FEELING that improvement, due in large part to wages not keeping up with the cost of living.”
“Politically, an improving economy helps the president and his party. (It also makes it harder to say the health-care law has stifled the economy.) And in macroeconomic terms, lower gas prices serve as a kind of economic stimulus — which Congress doesn’t have to pass or finance. Yet more importantly, they’re an easier way for Americans to ASSESS the state of the economy. The monthly jobs report might not mean a thing to them, but they can see when it costs just $35 to $40 to fill up their tank each week when it used to cost $50. ”
Wonk Wire: Plummeting costs make renewable power a viable competitor
“Senate Democrats narrowly defeated a bill 59 to 41 that would have approved the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, rebuffing their Democratic colleague, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who had hoped to muscle the legislation through in advance of her uphill runoff election fight back home,” the New York Times reports.
“The battle over approving the pipeline, which will carry petroleum from the oil sands of Canada to the Gulf Coast of Texas, ultimately became a proxy war for the Louisiana Senate seat, where Ms. Landrieu and Republican Representative Bill Cassidy are locked in fight for votes in their oil-rich state ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff election.”
Roll Call: “Republican leaders plan to bring the pipeline legislation back up next year, when GOP reinforcements appear certain to bring it over the line and to President Obama’s desk.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]President Obama got the result he wanted. He doesn’t have to show his hand on Keystone XL until next year. [/speech_bubble]
“The White House played somewhat coy last week — blasting the congressional approval as an improper short-circuit of the review process currently underway at the U.S. State Department without explicitly saying that Mr. Obama would veto the bill,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The hedging on the Keystone issue leaves Mr. Obama’s options open. He could kick the Keystone bill back to Congress, where it’s very unlikely to clear the two-thirds vote threshold needed to override. Or he could sign it — or simply allow it to sit on his desk and become law without signing it, another option available to him — and take heat from progressives who have been loudly urging the him to ax the project.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) regularly deflects questions about climate change by saying he is “not a scientist,” the New Republic reports.
“But apparently McConnell will make an exception when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline. In remarks on the Senate floor, hours before a vote on a bill that fast-tracks construction of the pipeline, McConnell pointed to the ‘science’ supporting the legislation.”
Said McConnell: “Those who took a serious look at the science and the potential benefits reached the conclusion long ago. They understand that the whole drama over Keystone has been as protracted as it is unnecessary. We hope to turn the page on all of that today.”
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) “is presenting herself as a leading voice for Louisiana on energy issues in the U.S. Capitol, showcasing her inside influence by forcing a Senate vote on a bill that would allow construction of the Keystone pipeline, a project backed by industries and voters in her state,” Bloomberg reports.
“Yet her outspokenness and perseverance in legislative forums is relatively new, emerging in the 10 months since she took over the chairmanship of the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee and as she faces an uphill battle in a Dec. 6 runoff against Republican Representative Bill Cassidy. Between January 2009 and this week, Landrieu didn’t speak or submit written testimony or questions at almost 70% of the energy committee hearings, according to an analysis of congressional records, videos and transcripts. Her attendance at 137 of the 200 hearings of the full panel or her subcommittees during that six-year period cannot be confirmed through public records.”
The New York Times reports that people “familiar with the president’s thinking say that in 2015 he might use Keystone as a bargaining chip: He would offer Republicans approval of it in exchange for approval of one of his policies.”
Jonathan Chait: “The superficial logic of a Keystone trade makes sense. Obama doesn’t really care about the project much one way or the other. He regards it as a sideshow with negligible effects on climate change. Republicans, on the other hand, constantly implore him to approve it. That would seem, on the surface, to lay the basis for a logical trade of one kind or another.”
“The trouble is, there’s little reason to think Republicans actually care about approving Keystone. Its value to them lies entirely in its use as a talking point. The pipeline is an easy, tangible example of a thing they propose to create jobs. In fact, the number of jobs the pipeline would create is pathetically negligible — around 2,000 jobs a year for two years to build it, after which maintaining the pipeline would require about 35 jobs. But the number of jobs Keystone creates is not the point. The point is that it sounds like something that creates jobs, because describing an actual tangible project makes it easy to visualize how people would be put to work on it.”
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and other supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline “are stuck at 59 votes — one vote shy of the supermajority they need to move their bill forward on Tuesday,” The Hill reports.
However, Landrieu remained adamant on Monday evening that she had the 60 votes.
Politico: “The parlor game on Capitol Hill regarding the 60th vote has become so intense that Democrats merely rumored to be thinking about voting ‘yes’ have found themselves under attack from pipeline opponents on social media.”
The White House has begun hinting that President Obama would veto legislation that mandates approval of the Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline, National Journal reports.
“While a Keystone bill may not be able to clear the lame-duck Senate, the legislation will very likely have more than the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster when Republicans take over the chamber next year. But it’s unclear whether the new Senate could muster the 67 votes necessary to override a presidential veto.”
Wonk Wire: Using Keystone XL to save Mary Landrieu
Senate Democrats are considering a vote in the lame-duck session to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, a move that may bolster Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) re-election chances in next month’s runoff election, Bloomberg reports.
“Landrieu, chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in her campaign has sought to distance herself from Obama on energy issues, including his delay in approving the pipeline. She has backed the pipeline project.”
“The new Republican Congress is headed for a clash with the White House over two ambitious Environmental Protection Agency regulations that are the heart of President Obama’s climate change agenda,” the New York Times reports.
“Senator Mitch McConnell, the next majority leader, has already vowed to fight the rules, which could curb planet-warming carbon pollution but ultimately shut down coal-fired power plants in his native Kentucky. Mr. McConnell and other Republicans are, in the meantime, stepping up their demands that the president approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to carry petroleum from Canadian oil sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast.”
“At this point, Republicans do not have the votes to repeal the E.P.A. regulations, which will have far more impact on curbing carbon emissions than stopping the pipeline, but they say they will use their new powers to delay, defund and otherwise undermine them.”
Wonk Wire notes a big victory in Nebraska for opponents of the pipeline.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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