Reid Irrelevant In Stopping Votes On Bills & Amendments - Keystone XL Pipeline Votes

Today in Washington, D.C. - Jan 23, 2014
The U.S. House and Senate are in recess today. The House will reconvene on Monday, Jan. 26, 2015 at Noon.

The Senate will reconvene at 4:30 PM on Monday. At 5:30 PM, there will be a vote on cloture on the Murkowski substitute amendment, as amended, to S.1, the bill to authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Last night, the Senate voted on 15 more amendments to the Keystone bill. That is the same number of votes on amendments Democrats allowed in the entire year of 2014. The Senate Senators voted:

• 55-44 to reject an amendment from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) expressing the sense of Congress on public land designations,
• 54-45 to reject an amendment from Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) limiting the designation of new protected public lands,
• 53-46 to table (kill) an amendment from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) expressing the sense of Congress that climate change is real and caused by human activities,
• 56-42 to table (kill) an amendment from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), expressing the sense of Congress that climate change is real and caused by human activities and calling for a transition to renewable energy,
• 51-47 to reject an amendment from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) speeding the process of issuing drilling permits,
• 75-23 to adopt an amendment from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) expressing the sense of the Senate that the law should be modified so that oil sands should be subject to an excise tax funding the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund,
• 50-47 to reject an amendment from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) classifying oil sands as crude oil in order to subject them to the excise tax,
• 51-46 to reject an amendment from Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) expressing the sense of the Senate that the greenhouse gas emissions agreement with the Obama administration announced with China has no force and effect.  Americans for Limited Government had supported this amendment (additional info at the end of this article).  
• 64-33 to adopt an amendment from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) clarifying that any eminent domain activities around the Keystone XL pipeline must be consistent with the requirements of the Constitution,
• 43-54 to reject an amendment from Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) prohibiting the use of eminent domain for the construction of the pipeline,
• 53-42 to table (kill) an amendment from Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) delaying the construction of the pipeline until oil sands are treated as crude oil for excise tax purposes,
• 57-38 to table (kill) an amendment from Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) to impose a fee of 8 cents per barrel on oil transported through the Keystone XL pipeline,
• 52-43 to table (kill) an amendment from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) requiring new campaign finance disclosures for people receiving revenues in relation to oil sands development,
• 53-41 to table (kill) an amendment from Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) removing a provision giving original judicial review of civil actions relating to the pipeline to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals,
• 49-45 to table (kill) an amendment from Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) expressing the sense of the Senate that the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) should be funded at least $4.7 billion per year.

Next week, then, Americans will finally get to see if all the Democrat senators who have previously voted for and vocalized their support for this shovel-ready job-creating infrastructure project will vote for it when it counts and send the bill to the president’s desk.

Then President Obama will have the opportunity to follow through on his constant exhortations to send him bills creating jobs and supporting American infrastructure. Unfortunately, the list of veto treats emanating from the White House is growing almost daily, among them the Keystone XL pipeline bill.

As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Keystone has support in both parties. It’s an important piece of infrastructure for our country. And, according to what the Obama Administration’s own State Department has said previously, constructing the pipeline would support thousands of jobs. It’s already passed the House. We’re currently working to pass it through the Senate. It will be on the president’s desk before long. We see no reason for him to veto these jobs.”

Yesterday, Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning had urged passage of the Blunt-Inhofe amendment against the China climate deal:  He said,  "President Obama's China climate change deal puts the United States economy and our workers at a competitive disadvantage and the Senate is urged to pass a sense of the Senate resolution opposing its implementation without having gone through the full ratification process.

"American workers continue to be hurt by President Obama's extremist environmental policies with stagnant wages and lost job growth opportunities.  Obama's China deal would further escalate the cost of electricity stunting the rebuilding our nation's manufacturing base.The Senate must stand up for America's workforce by making it clear that the President's China climate deal should not be implemented." 

---

Tags: U.S. Senate, votes, amendments, Keystone bill To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!