President Barack Obama would veto legislation authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline that the new Republican Congress is expected to introduced, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest reiterated Tuesday.
As Politico reported Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to take up the pipeline bill as one of the first orders of business for his new GOP majority.
“This piece of legislation is not altogether different than legislation that was introduced in the last Congress,” Earnest told reporters Tuesday, “and you’ll recall that we put out a statement of administration position indicating that the president would have vetoed that bill had it passed the previous Congress.”
“I can confirm for you that if this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn’t sign it either,” he continued.
Earnest explained that the process for determining the pipeline’s impact and route had not yet reached a “final conclusion.”
