The Senate plans to spend “several weeks” on a bill to authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in a debate that will open the floor to a potential cascade of energy amendments and test how President Obama wants to work with the new Republican-led Congress, Sen. John Hoeven told reporters Tuesday.
The North Dakota Republican said the measure to approve the 1,700-mile project has 60 co-sponsors, enough to clear procedural hurdles to hold a vote. He believed the count could rise to 63 lawmakers.
Hoeven said the amendment process could build further support rather than jeopardize centrist Democratic votes with controversial measures, such as restraining Environmental Protection Agency carbon regulations. That’s because each amendment will require 60 votes, a high mark for more contentious items.
“We are going to an open process, regular order, so they can make those decisions,” Hoeven said at a news conference in the Capitol on the bill, which the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to vote on Thursday. “This isn’t about procedure. At the end of the day, this thing sells on the merits.”
Hoeven isn’t so sure he can sell Obama on the oil sands project, which has been under federal review for six years because builder TransCanada Corp. needs a permit to finish its northern leg, which crosses the U.S.-Canada border. If Obama vetoes it, Hoeven said Republicans could try to override it or perhaps attach it to other energy legislation or a spending bill.
“This may be a two-step process,” Hoeven said.
For Republicans, though, Hoeven said Keystone XL is just as much about gauging how Obama will handle Congress without a Democratic Senate acting as a White House backstop.
“We’ll see what he does. But I think it really raises the question, is the president going to work with Congress?” Hoeven said. “This isn’t just about energy legislation, guys. This is about getting regular order and open amendment process and getting the Senate working.”
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he reached out to the White House to discuss the bill. And House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told the Wall Street Journal that he thinks Obama would sign the bill, which the House will vote on Friday.
But Obama has spoken dismissively of the $8 billion pipeline in recent public remarks, saying the oil sands it would transport from Canada to the Gulf Coast are destined for foreign markets.
Obama also derided the jobs it would create — 35 permanent positions, though Keystone XL boosters tout the 42,100 direct and indirect jobs it would add during construction — and said whether the pipeline contributes to climate change would be a factor in his decision.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president has taken a “dim view” on previous legislation that would go around a State Department review, but wouldn’t comment on how Obama would handle the legislation.
“We’ll see what the legislation actually includes before we start urging people to vote one way or the other,” Earnest said at a Monday press conference.
Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing their own set of amendments that Sen. Chuck Schumer said would make the legislation “more of a jobs bill.” The New York Democrat said those measures touch on clean energy, ensuring oil from Keystone XL can’t be exported, and requiring that U.S. steel is used in the pipeline.
Manchin said the open amendment process could help attract Democratic votes.
“You always have that concern, but you could also gain some support,” he said, later adding. “I think we’re going to pick up more than we lose.”
But liberal Democrats, with the backing of environmental and other liberal groups, are expected to resist the bill.
“For those in Congress who don’t share those pro-polluter goals, this first vote will be a chance to stand together and send the message to the public that we won’t go backwards,” said c, legislative director with the Sierra Club.
