Newly minted Republican lawmakers lived up to their promise Tuesday, introducing a bill in the U.S. Senate that will force the president’s hand on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would move oil from Canada to the U.S.
The first piece of legislation to be dealt with by the new Senate is expected to be one that seeks approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, a controversial 1,900-kilometre pipeline that will move 800,000 barrels a day of Canadian oil to refineries on the American Gulf Coast.
U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly put off ruling on the project, but Republicans, buoyed by their standing in the polls, have championed the project on economic grounds.
As mandated by the Constitution, the U.S. Senate resumed sitting at noon on Tuesday.
The bill is identical to one that fell a single vote shy of passage in November, when Democrats controlled the Senate and Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, a Democrat, pushed for a vote to save her Senate seat. She lost.
The bill effectively seeks to take the issue out of the president’s hands by arguing it’s not a matter the State Department should have jurisdiction over.
Although it’s yet to be formally tabled, the bill will be introduced by Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, but it’s sponsored by 53 other Republicans and six Democrats. Supporters said they had 63 votes in favour of the bill, enough to overcome a filibuster but not a presidential veto.
The lower House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill and pass it on Friday, which means it will land on the president’s desk after that.
“There’s a lot we can get done together if the president puts his famous pen to use signing bills rather than vetoing legislation his liberal allies don’t like,” Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said late last year.
A presidential veto is no trifling matter. In his six years in office, Obama has only vetoed two other bills. His predecessor George W. Bush used a veto 12 times, while Bill Clinton did so 37 times during his eight-year presidency.
