Nebraska Court Decision Clears Way For Keystone

Today in Washington, D.C. - Jan. 9, 2015:
The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and began a period of morning business. Following 3 hours of debate on the Keystone XL pipeline, the Senate adjourned until Monday. At 5:30 PM on Monday, there will be a vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to (i.e. whether to take up and debate) S.1, the bill to authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline

Yesterday, the Senate voted 93-4 to pass H.R. 26, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, sending it to the president for his signature. Prior to passage, the Senate voted 31-66 to reject an amendment to the bill offered by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

The House reconvened at 9 AM today. The House today passed H.R. 3 (266 - 153) — "To approve the Keystone XL Pipeline." Twenty-eight Democrats joined Republican in Passing the bill; with 153 Democrats voting against the Keystone XL Pipeline and jobs for Americans. Twelve democrats joined republicans in passing the bill.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) noted today, "In light of today’s Nebraska Supreme Court ruling, the president should reconsider his threat to veto the Keystone pipeline and the tens of thousands of jobs it will create. A presidential veto would put his own political interests ahead of the needs and priorities of the American people. There is no excuse – scientific or otherwise - for the president to continue blocking the pipeline. An overwhelming majority of Americans support this job-creating energy project and President Obama ought to respect their will and stop standing in the way."

Yesterday the House passed H.R. 30 (252-172) - "To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the 30-hour threshold for classification as a full-time employee for purposes of the employer mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and replace it with 40 hours. Twelve democrats joined republicans in passing this bill.

On the XL Keystone Pipeline, National Journal noted: <“In a victory for supporters of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, the Nebraska Supreme Court struck down a lower-court challenge to the project on Friday. That determination paves the way for president Obama to approve or reject the project, which has become a hot-button issue at the center of a nationwide debate over American energy security and climate change.”

“In the verdict handed down Friday morning, the court overturned an earlier district court decision finding that Gov. Dave Heineman's decision to approve the pipeline route violated the state constitution.

“The House is set to vote on a bill to greenlight the project Friday afternoon, while an identical measure is currently advancing through the Senate and expected to see a vote in the coming weeks. The pro-Keystone legislation is expected to pass Congress. But White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest announced Tuesday that the White House plans to veto any legislative attempt to approve Keystone XL.”


Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said this morning that the ruling means the president has no excuses left to keep delaying the pipeline. “President Obama is out of excuses for deciding whether or not to allow thousands of Americans to get back to work. Today’s ruling provides the perfect opportunity for the President to change his unproductive posture on this jobs project and reverse his veto threat. Congress will soon pass a bipartisan proposal to approve this job-creating infrastructure project in order to help grow our economy and put thousands of Americans back to work. The president now has every reason to sign it.”

In spite of their denunciations of such delays when they were in the majority, Senate Democrats are taking every opportunity to slow-walk and filibuster the bipartisan Keystone legislation, as Kimberley Strassel writes: “[W]hile [Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)] isn’t officially running the Senate anymore, he’s still running on a Senate dysfunction agenda. . . . Mr. Reid this week again accused the former Republican minority of ‘gratuitous obstruction and wanton filibustering,’ and vowed such tactics would not ‘be a hallmark of a Democratic minority.’ He then proceeded to unleash all the obstruction and filibustering in Christendom to slow Mr. McConnell ’s first priority: authorization of the Keystone XL pipeline.”

“Tuesday morning—the first day of session—assistant Democratic leader Sen. Dick Durbin took to the floor to formally object to the Senate Energy Committee even holding a hearing on the pipeline, despite Republicans having charitably arranged for even opponents of the project to testify. Having tanked that hearing, Mr. Reid’s office turned around and publicly complained Mr. McConnell wasn’t sticking to his promise to hold a hearing and report the bill out of committee. This was doubly rich, coming from a former Senate leader who barely acknowledged committees existed.”

“Democrats have meanwhile indicated they intend to filibuster the Keystone bill at every turn. They’ll demand 30 hours of debate here, 30 hours there. And nearly every Democratic office is already busy writing dozens of amendments to the bill—a few designed to embarrass Republicans, though plenty aimed at wasting time.”

Strassel explains why this matters. “The reality is that Mr. Reid has a compelling interest in ordering his members to keep the Senate looking like a circus. He spent the past four years telling the American public that nothing got done under him because Republicans were obstructionist and because the Senate was ‘broken.’ The ‘broken’ point he even used as an excuse to blow up the filibuster for presidential nominations.”

“If Mr. McConnell is successful in using regular order (including debate, amendments, conference work, the filibuster) to begin methodically moving bills to Mr. Obama’s desk, that blows up the Reid story line. It exposes Democrats as the real obstructionists of the past years, even as it proves the GOP is able to get things done.”

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