The U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to override President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill to construct the Keystone XL pipeline, the first of many confrontations between the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House this year over energy policy.
The 62-37 vote is expected to be one of many veto showdowns between Republicans and Obama in his final term, which ends Jan. 20, 2017. Already, the White House has issued more than a dozen veto threats on legislation. The $8 billion project would transport oil extracted from tar sands in western Canada to pipelines linked to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.
Proponents of the Keystone bill have said since its introduction that they didn’t have the two-thirds of the vote needed in the 100-member Senate to override Obama’s veto. They fell four votes short. They’ve already been discussing other way to force the pipeline’s approval, either by attaching it onto must-pass spending bills or other, broader, energy legislation. “If we don’t win the battle today, we will win the war because we will find another bill to attach this pipeline to,” said Sen. John Hoeven, a Republican and the chief sponsor of the bill, before the vote.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pleaded with Democrats for more support of a bill that he said advanced the president’s own priorities. “If you’re interested in jobs and infrastructure and saving your party from an extreme mistake, then join us,” he said. “Vote with us to override a partisan veto and help the president pursue priorities he’s advocated in the past.”
Obama has repeatedly resisted Congress’ attempts to force his hand. His veto of the bill, the third of his presidency, said that the bill circumvented longstanding and proven processes for determining whether cross-border pipelines serve the national interest and cuts short consideration of its effects.
Via pennenergy.com
