Senators are hoping to vote on legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline this week after Democrats blocked a procedural move, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.
“We’re hoping to be able to finish that bill by the end of the week,” the Kentucky Republican said at a press conference in the Capitol.
Snow that kept senators away from the Capitol and Democratic anger over how Republicans handled the floor process doomed a Monday vote that would have ended debate on the bill, which would green light the 1,700-mile, $8 billion pipeline.
“This vote would have been different had the process been different,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., one of the few Keystone XL-supporting Democrats who voted to end debate, told reporters Monday.
Democrats charged that Republicans reneged on their promise to hold an open amendment process. GOP lawmakers said Democrats were being disingenuous by refusing to agree on a list of amendments to vote on so the upper chamber wouldn’t have to consider limitless proposals.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski said her conversations with committee ranking member Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., have been “constructive,” and that the two hope to soon strike an agreement on amendments.
“Folks on both sides would like to see their amendments. But I think what we’re trying to establish is this is not the only bill that the Republican leadership is going to advance. This is the first one,” the Alaska Republican told reporters.
The bill approving the Canada-to-Texas project is expected to pass with all Republicans and a handful of centrist Democrats who say the Obama administration has had long enough to evaluate Keystone XL, which has been under federal review for more than years. If it does pass, the bill would be reconciled with a House measure that passed earlier this month.
President Obama, however, has threatened to veto the bill because he said it would circumvent the review process. It’s unlikely the Senate has the 67 supporters needed to override a veto, and Republicans have said they plan to roll the bill into other energy or spending legislation that Obama might sign.
“We hope that the president will decide not to veto that bill and decide that it is the right thing to do for the American people and for jobs,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday.
