Senate approves Keystone pipeline despite veto threat

Paul Singer | USA TODAY

The Senate voted Thursday to build the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, despite a long-standing veto threat from the White House.

After three weeks of debate on 41 amendments, the Senate voted 62-36 to pass a bill approving the north-south pipeline for Canadian oil that Republicans say will create thousands of U.S. jobs. The tally was short of the 67 votes the Senate would need to override a presidential veto.

Nine Democrats joined a unanimous Republican caucus to support the bill: Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tom Carper of Delaware, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana and Mark Warner of Virginia.

Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged his colleagues to pass the measure. "Constructing Keystone would pump billions into our economy. It would support thousands of good American jobs," he said. "And as the president's own State Department has indicated, it would do this with minimal environmental impact."

McConnell said the conclusion of myriad studies is: "We need to build it."

Later, he said, "We're hoping the president, upon reflection, will read and sign a bill that the State Department says could create 42,000 jobs."

The House passed a similar bill Jan. 9 — the 10th time the House has passed such legislation — but since the Senate bill has been amended, the two chambers will have to agree on one version before the bill goes to the president.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Thursday, "I'd like to congratulate Sen. McConnell for passing this bill in an open, inclusive and bipartisan way. After dropping his scheme to tax middle-class college savings, we hope President Obama will now drop his threat to veto this common-sense bill that would strengthen our energy security and create thousands and thousands of new, good-paying American jobs."

The bill essentially would close the environmental review process at the State Department. The White House has opposed various versions of the bill because Obama said the administration's review process should be allowed to play out.

"This Keystone project is undergoing review at the State Department," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Wednesday. "That is a process that long predates this administration. So we are opposed to any legislative maneuver that would circumvent that process."

Democrats have objected to the Keystone bill in part because of arguments that it will increase the use of Canadian oil sands, which environmental groups say would increase carbon emissions and speed climate change.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., told senators Thursday they should instead adopt standards for energy companies to use renewable fuels in generating electricity. Udall argued that the Keystone pipeline would produce a short-term burst of construction jobs, but once it is built, "the permanent jobs are in the range of 50."

The vote is a big win for Louisiana Republicans. Before December's Senate runoff in that state, the two candidates, incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and her challenger, GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy, both pushed bills to approve the pipeline. The House approved Cassidy's bill, but the Senate defeated Landrieu's, and he went on to take her Senate seat in the election.

Indicating the importance Republicans have placed on the Keystone bill, they assigned it bill number S. 1, the first bill of the new GOP-controlled Senate.

Contributing: Erin Kelly