Veto Override Battle Looms as Obama Gets Keystone Bill

Congressional Republican leaders are expected to send President Obama legislation authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, The Hill reports.

While the bill passed Congress more than a week ago, Republican leaders delayed sending it to the White House in order to prevent Obama from carrying out his veto threat while Congress was out of town.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and many other Republicans have urged Obama to reconsider his promise to veto the bill, pointing to estimates that it could create as many as 40,000 jobs.

Some members of Obama's own party have indicated that they too think his veto threats are a mistake. Defying the president, 28 Democrat House members on Jan. 9 voted in favor of passage of legislation authorizing the Keystone pipeline which passed by a 266 to 153 vote.

One day before that vote, three top leaders of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats sent a letter to President Obama urging him not to veto the pipeline legislation.

"The Blue Dog Coalition stands ready to work with you and Congressional leaders to provide stringent oversight of construction and operation of the Keystone XL Pipeline, but we cannot miss this opportunity to create good paying jobs and put America on the path to be less reliant on oil from our foes," wrote Democrat Reps. Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Jim Cooper of Tennessee and Jim Costa of California.

Support from Democrats was not strictly limited to the center of the party, as progressives such as Assistant Leader James E. Clyburn of South Carolina and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas joined Republicans in voting for Keystone.

The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 62-36 on Jan. 29, with nine Democrats crossing party lines to support the project.

In arguing for delay, the administration has said that congressional action would undercut the ongoing process underway for the transnational pipeline which is being overseen by the State Department.

But pipeline opponents haven't fared well there, either.

For example the Obama State Department issued a report in March 2013 which found that "there would be no significant environmental impact to most resources along the proposed route from western Canada to refineries in Texas," according to the Associated Press. "The report also said other options to get the oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change."

Earlier this month, the Defense Department said it "continues to have no objection" to approving the Keystone XL pipeline.

Michael Bruhn, executive secretary to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, said in a letter to his counterpart at the State Department that the Pentagon's position hasn't changed since views it provided on the TransCanada project in March.

The State Department has no deadline for making a decision on the pipeline permit.

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