The House will hold a vote on authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline in the first two weeks of session next month, a GOP leadership aide confirmed with the Washington Examiner.
The bill will likely pass the House by a sizable margin. The Senate also plans to hold a vote in January, and has a Jan. 7 committee hearing on a bill to green light the Canada-to-Gulf Coast project.
The 1,200-mile pipeline has been under federal review more than six years. Its builder, TransCanada Corp., needs a cross-border permit to complete its northern leg.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has pledged to have an open amendment process on the legislation. The bill likely has the 60 supporters needed to clear procedural hurdles for a vote, but it remains to be seen whether potentially controversial amendments — such as handcuffing the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants — would cost Democratic votes.
House Democrats have pushed GOP leadership to also go through “regular order” by having committee votes on the legislation, and also hope for an open amendment process.
It’s unclear whether President Obama would veto legislation authorizing the pipeline — he didn’t say what he’d do ahead of a November Senate vote, which fell one senator short of passing. But White House press secretary Josh Earnest noted Obama has taken a “dim view” of similar bills that would circumvent the State Department review.
