WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and other supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline are racing to line up 60 votes in favor of the project, ahead of a milestone vote next Tuesday.
The House of Representatives is widely expected on Friday to pass legislation by Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., that would authorize the pipeline, but it’s unclear whether the Senate will follow suit.
Landrieu, who on Wednesday secured an agreement to vote on identical legislation, said she’s confident she can secure the 60 votes necessary to pass the measure under the terms of that deal. All 45 Republicans are expected to vote “aye,” and at least 13 Democrats have signaled they will support the bill.
One of them, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said he’s bullish on the bill’s chances and the prospects that it will help Landrieu win reelection when she faces voters in a Dec. 6 runoff against Cassidy.
House passage “will be helpful” to Cassidy as he faces voters, Carper said. But, he said, pushing this legislation through the Senate is a much bigger deal.
“If Mary is successful here in corralling these recalcitrant Democrats to get to 60 that’s a far bigger accomplishment; it’s a lot harder thing to do,” he said. “We would hope and expect she would get some credit; God knows she would deserve it.”
Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., who has been reluctant to support Keystone XL legislation in the past — an issue that may have factored into his Nov. 4 election day loss — will not be voting for the measure Tuesday. “Sen. Udall’s position on the Keystone XL Pipeline has not changed,” a spokesman said. “He continues to believe Congress should not be injecting politics into the ongoing review.”
It is unclear what Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., will do. In the past, Bennet has said he supports Keystone XL but in April he did not sign on to a letter from 11 other Senate Democrats urging Obama to back the project. Spokesman for the two senators did not return requests for comment, and Bennet did not answer a reporter’s question about it Thursday.
Even if the Senate passes the legislation, President Barack Obama could veto the bill. Although the White House has stopped short of issuing a veto threat, signs were pointing in that direction. “It’s fair to say that our dim view of these kinds of proposals has not changed,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Wednesday.
Former White House energy adviser Heather Zichal declined to predict Obama’s decision but stressed that the president’s repeated comments about not wanting to subvert an ongoing legal and State Department review of Keystone XL are instructive. Obama reiterated that view in a news conference last week, and, Zichal said, “I expect he will continue to have that position.”
Carper acknowledged the possibility of a veto.
“If he vetoes the bill, then he vetoes the bill,” Carper said. “Eventually the pipeline is going to be built, and it can take place in a way, in which credit which I think would be owed to (Landrieu).”
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., the sponsor of the Keystone XL bill, said a defeat this time — whether because the Senate rejects the bill or Obama vetoes it — would be short-lived. “We’ve got a good plan to advance Keystone,” he said, referring to the Republicans’ takeover of the Senate in January.
“If we don’t get 60 votes on Tuesday, in the new Congress, we will have 60 votes,” he said. “If he vetoes it, then we’ll have the ability to bring it back and either attach it to broader energy legislation or maybe an appropriations measure that we think he won’t veto.”
Environmentalists who oppose Keystone XL were pressuring Obama to stand firm against the project.
“The decision whether or not to approve the pipeline rests solely with President Obama, who has repeatedly said he will reject it if it contributes significantly to climate pollution,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. “There is no question that it will, so we remain confident that he will reject this pipeline and these attacks on long-standing executive powers.”
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