President Obama would veto legislation authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that Congress is taking up this week, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a Tuesday press conference.
Earnest noted that Obama has frowned upon similar attempts to go around a federal review of the 1,700-mile pipeline. Pipeline builder TransCanada Corp. has been waiting more than six years for a cross-border permit to complete the pipeline’s northern leg, which stretches into Canada.
“If this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn’t sign it, either,” Earnest said. “Our position on this hasn’t changed.”
The Senate will begin debating legislation approving the $8 billion project this week — it is slated for a Wednesday hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, followed by a Thursday committee vote. Floor debate will take “several weeks,” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told reporters Tuesday. The House, meanwhile, will vote on companion legislation Friday.
Republican and centrist Democratic supporters of the pipeline, which would bring oil sands from Canada to refineries in the Gulf Coast, will be dismayed by the news. While the House might have enough votes to override a veto, Hoeven said his measure is still likely four votes shy of the 67 needed to force the president’s hand.
Hoeven told reporters that passing the legislation is likely a “two-step process” that could involve wrapping the Keystone XL bill into other energy measures or a spending bill.
