2015 Republican Leadership Positions Elected | Will Obama Veto Keystone XL?

Today in Washington, D.C. - Nov. 13, 2014
This morning, Senate Republicans elected their leadership team for the 114th Congress, which begins in January.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was elected Majority Leader by acclamation. He was nominated by Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and the nomination was seconded by Sen.-elect Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas was elected Majority Whip, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota was elected Senate Republican Conference Chairman, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming was elected Senate Republican Policy Chairman, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri was elected Senate Republican Conference Vice Chairman, and Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi was elected as National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman.

The Senate will reconvene at 2:15 PM today. At 2:30, the Senate will vote on confirmation of the nominations of Randolph Moss to be District Judge for the District of Columbia and Leigh Martin May to be District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia.

Following those votes, the Senate will vote on cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 1086, the Child Care and Development Block Grant reauthorization. Yesterday, the Senate voted 53-45 to invoke cloture on the Moss nomination and 67-30 to invoke cloture on the May nomination.

This morning, House Republicans, including newly elected and returning lawmakers, elected their leadership team for the 114th Congress. They elected the following members of their leadership team for the 114th Congress:
Speaker of the House: Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) | @SpeakerBoehner
Majority Leader: Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) | @GOPLeader
Majority Whip: Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) | @SteveScalise
Conference Chair: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) | @cathymcmorris
NRCC Chairman: Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) | @repgregwalden
Policy Committee Chairman: Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN) | @RepLukeMesser
Conference Vice-Chair: Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) | @RepLynnJenkins
Conference Secretary: Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) | @virginiafoxx
Sophomore Representative: Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO)| @RepAnnWagner
Freshman Representative: Rep.-elect Mimi Walters (R-CA)House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement:“Americans have entrusted Republicans with the responsibility of leading both the House and Senate. We are humbled by this opportunity and take it seriously. Together, our focus will continue to be listening to the people and making their priorities our priorities. We have an opportunity to do some important things in the months ahead. We have made clear that we’ll start with the jobs bills the outgoing Senate majority ignored for too long. We’ve decided not to wait on one of them: the Keystone pipeline. The House will vote tomorrow to build the Keystone pipeline, and we’re hopeful the Senate will approve it as well. This is a vote to lower energy costs for families and create more American jobs. Finding common ground won’t always be easy, but for the sake of America’s workers, we hope the president will sign this bipartisan bill without any further delay.”
The House reconvened at 10 AM today. In addition to administrative and land transfer issues, the House is expected to take up H. Res. 748 — "Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 5682) to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline." Yesterday, issues were administrative except for accepting two modifications by the Senate to previously passed House bills.

Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement urging passage of H.R. 5682 offered by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that would permit "TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. [to] construct, connect, operate, and maintain the pipeline and cross-border facilities" of the Keystone XL pipeline:
"The House led by Rep. Bill Cassidy is to be praised for taking the lead on finally approving the Keystone XL pipeline. Americans for Limited Government urges every member to support this common sense legislation and get it moving to the Senate.

"Everything we ever needed to know about the Obama administration has been learned in its obstruction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Why hasn't it been approved by the Obama State Department? Not because there is anything exceptional about this pipeline. There already is another Keystone pipeline from Alberta operated by TransCanada that already delivers about 590,000 barrels of oil a day. The new pipeline would simply add another 500,000 barrels a day to the mix.

"This is just one more example of executive branch discretion run amuck. Where Obama's allegiance to green ideology trumps all considerations of policy that will help lead to North American energy independence. Obama is acting in somebody's interest, it's just not the American people's."As the AP noted, “Long-stalled legislation to build the Keystone XL pipeline got new life on Wednesday after Senate Democrats suddenly abandoned efforts to block the measure . . . .”

In response to this sudden change, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The American people have elected a new Republican Majority in the Senate and that has already made a difference. I was glad to see that Senate Democrats have finally backed off trying to obstruct construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the single largest shovel-ready project in America. I hope this post-election conversion on Keystone signals Democrat cooperation on a whole host of other energy bills they have blocked, and whose passage would help to make America more energy-independent.”

But in a story titled, “On the other side of the world, Obama determined as ever to bypass Congress,” CNN reports, “For President Barack Obama and the Republicans in Congress, distance does not make the heart grow fonder. With the president escaping to Asia for a critical foreign trip after last week's bruising losses for his party, White House officials are signaling Obama will take a hard-nosed approach with Congress when he returns to Washington.

“Obama is ‘nearing a final decision’ on issuing an executive order bringing reforms to U.S. immigration policy, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at a briefing in Naypyitaw, [Burma]. Earnest reiterated the President's goal to act on the issue by the end of the year. . . . The expected incoming Senate majority leader, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has described such a move as a ‘poison pill’ that would damage relations with the new Republican Congress coming into power in January. . . .

“Earnest cited the President's new climate change deal with China as another area where Obama can pursue his own agenda without Congress. Asked whether the administration believes the United States can meet the agreement's carbon emission requirements without congressional involvement, Earnest said simply, ‘we do.’ . . . In his own response to the climate agreement, McConnell questioned whether China would be as ambitious. ‘I read the agreement - requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emission regulations are creating havoc in my state and other states around the country,’ the Kentucky Republican said. . . .

“On another top priority for Republicans, passage of legislation to accelerate completion of the contested Keystone oil pipeline, Earnest suggested the President is warming up his veto pen. Earnest declined to definitively say Obama would veto such legislation. But he quickly added the President has taken a ‘dim view’ of similar bills in the past.”

Is President Obama really still determined to stand in the way of an energy infrastructure project that would create jobs and enjoys broad bipartisan support, even in the wake of voters rejecting the Democrat Senate majority’s former opposition to it?

The Washington Post reminds the White House just how much support the Keystone XL pipeline enjoys from Americans across party lines: “President Obama is fond of telling Congress that it should pass things with the overwhelming support of the American people . . . . And yet, Obama could soon be in a position of vetoing something with a similar amount of support: the Keystone XL pipeline.

“Poll after poll has shown support for Keystone is somewhere between very strong and overwhelming. A Pew Research Center survey this month showed support for the project at nearly two-to-one, 59 percent to 31 percent. And that was about the lowest level of support we've seen to date. Support has registered as high as two-thirds of Americans.

“And as another recent Pew poll showed, it's not just Republicans and independents driving support for the project. In fact, basically the only group that opposes it is the most liberal of Democrats. . . .

“Which is a long way of saying that Obama would likely have very few supporters were he to wield his veto pen, as the White House suggests he will following votes by the House and Senate -- which by all indications will approve the bill.”

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