The Senate will vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline bill next year
Senate Majority Leader-Elect Mitch McConnell (R-KY) promised to bring the Keystone XL Pipeline bill to the Senate floor in January 2015 for a vote.
“But once the 114 Congress convenes, the Senate will act again on this important legislation, and I look forward to the new Republican majority taking up and passing the Keystone jobs bill early in the New Year,” said McConnell.
The Senate was one vote shy of passing the bill late Tuesday evening. There were 59 votes for the bill and 41 votes against the bill.
A majority of the Democrats plus two Independents voted against the bill, while 14 Democrats and all of the Republicans voted for the bill.
Democrats have said that the Keystone XL Pipeline will do more harm than good because of the risk of oil spills and tar sands that will damage the surrounding rivers and streams in the rural areas.
Democrats also cite studies that say the pipeline will not create the thousands of jobs that Republicans say building the pipeline will create.
But despite the Democrats opposition to the bill, they decided to allow a vote on the bill in hopes of it helping Sen. Mary Landrieu (R-LA), who faces a runoff with Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on December 6, 2014, to keep her Senate seat.
Landrieu is a senior member on the Senate Energy Committee and she has been a staunch supporter of building the Keystone XL Pipeline, which will run from the Northwestern part of Canada, through Montana and the Dakotas, down to Louisiana.
Last Friday, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill supported by Rep. Bill Cassidy. President Obama said that he would veto the bill if it passed Congress.
Due to President Obama’s veto threat, some questioned if Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate majority leader, should have allowed a vote on the bill.
Pearson Cross, who is a political science professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, told CBS News that Landrieu was in a tight situation because voting for the bill could make her look like she was pandering to the voters; while not voting for the bill would make it look like President Obama threw her to the wolves.
In either case, Landrieu faced a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.”
And despite the signs that the bill would not become law, Landrieu and 13 other Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues and voted for the bill.
“But once the 114 Congress convenes, the Senate will act again on this important legislation, and I look forward to the new Republican majority taking up and passing the Keystone jobs bill early in the New Year,” said McConnell.
The Senate was one vote shy of passing the bill late Tuesday evening. There were 59 votes for the bill and 41 votes against the bill.
A majority of the Democrats plus two Independents voted against the bill, while 14 Democrats and all of the Republicans voted for the bill.
Democrats have said that the Keystone XL Pipeline will do more harm than good because of the risk of oil spills and tar sands that will damage the surrounding rivers and streams in the rural areas.
Democrats also cite studies that say the pipeline will not create the thousands of jobs that Republicans say building the pipeline will create.
But despite the Democrats opposition to the bill, they decided to allow a vote on the bill in hopes of it helping Sen. Mary Landrieu (R-LA), who faces a runoff with Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on December 6, 2014, to keep her Senate seat.
Landrieu is a senior member on the Senate Energy Committee and she has been a staunch supporter of building the Keystone XL Pipeline, which will run from the Northwestern part of Canada, through Montana and the Dakotas, down to Louisiana.
Last Friday, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill supported by Rep. Bill Cassidy. President Obama said that he would veto the bill if it passed Congress.
Due to President Obama’s veto threat, some questioned if Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate majority leader, should have allowed a vote on the bill.
Pearson Cross, who is a political science professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, told CBS News that Landrieu was in a tight situation because voting for the bill could make her look like she was pandering to the voters; while not voting for the bill would make it look like President Obama threw her to the wolves.
In either case, Landrieu faced a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.”
And despite the signs that the bill would not become law, Landrieu and 13 other Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues and voted for the bill.
comments powered by Disqus