Senate Dems Plan Tuesday Vote On Keystone, But Obama Might Veto

The Democratic-led Senate is planning to vote to construct the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, tentatively for 6:15 p.m., according to a leadership aide.

If the legislation gets 60 votes, it will skip the usual process and be considered passed through the Senate, under an agreement between Democratic and Republican leaders.

It’s shaping up to be a close vote. The Senate was “one vote short” when it adjourned last week, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Senate Democrats, who have blocked a vote on the Keystone pipeline for months, agreed to a vote after the midterm election, and on the insistence of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who faces a tough runoff election next month. Her office is whipping the vote, the Democratic leadership aide said.

The proposal is a companion version of the bill passed by the Republican-led House on Friday by a vote of 252 to 161. If it passes the Senate, it would head straight to President Barack Obama’s desk, but he has hinted he may not sign it into law.

“With respect to Keystone … my position hasn’t changed, that this is a process that is supposed to be followed. Right now you have a case pending in Nebraska, where the pipeline would run through, in which a state court judge has questioned the plan. And until we know what the route is, it’s very hard to finish that evaluation,” Obama said Friday at a joint press conference in Burma. “And I don’t think we should short-circuit that process.”