The Senate likely will be one vote short of the 60 needed to proceed to a vote Tuesday on whether to approve the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, as a spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson said the Florida Democrat wouldn’t support the bill.
“Just to be clear — Nelson will be a ‘no’ vote on the Hoeven version of Keystone XL. (He supports the pipeline but with a ban on exporting the oil.),” Ryan Brown, a spokesman for Nelson, said in an email to reporters.
The news comes just after the House passed by a 252-161 vote legislation identical to the measure Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., are sponsoring in the Senate. That could hurt Landrieu’s re-election hopes, as GOP opponent Rep. Bill Cassidy likely will use another collapsed Keystone XL vote against her heading into the Dec. 6 runoff.
Even if the legislation were to pass the Senate, President Obama hinted at a Friday news conference in Myanmar that he would likely veto the bill because he wants the State Department to finish its review of the Canada-to-Texas project. The pipeline has been under federal review for a cross-border permit needed to complete the northern leg for more than six years.
If Landrieu and Hoeven can’t find a 60th supporter, Republicans plan to try to pass the bill again in January when they control both chambers of Congress.
They will have a filibuster-proof majority when combined with centrist Democrats who back Keystone XL. Hoeven told the Washington Examiner he believes pipeline boosters could override a presidential veto if legislation to approve it is combined with a bigger energy or spending bill.
