WASHINGTON — For the first time in the six-year fight over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, both Houses of Congress will hold a vote on the proposed project, which has become a sudden flashpoint in a runoff election for a Senate seat in Louisiana.
The two lawmakers locked in a tight Senate runoff election, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., seized control of the congressional agenda Wednesday extracting assurances from House and Senate leaders that votes will be held to bypass President Barack Obama authority and authorize construction of the pipeline.
A large showing of Democratic support for the pipeline could complicate the administration’s decision-making process, given the party’s dismal showing at the polls last week. Environmentalist allies of the president are solidly against the project, and have been doggedly lobbying the administration against approving the project.
But Republicans successfully used the president’s environmental and climate agenda as key lines of attack against Democrats in several contested midterm races.
Acknowledging the importance of energy to the Louisiana economy, both Landrieu and Cassidy have championed construction of the pipeline, which would transport oil from tar sands of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The GOP controlled House has repeatedly voted its support for the pipeline, while the Senate, in deference the administration’s review, has resisted holding a vote on the matter.
The pipeline has been under review by the State Department for six years, which has jurisdiction because the project crosses international borders. Democrats from energy producing states, like Landrieu, have joined Republicans in calling for its approval.
A Senate vote next week will allow Landrieu to say that she voted for the project, and put some distance between her and Obama.
Whether Congress can authorize constructing the pipeline has been the source of debate between Republicans pining for its construction and environmental groups who believe the powers rest solely with Obama.
But supporters believe that Congress can use its power to regulate commerce with foreign countries to authorize the project. The legislation as written would authorize constructing the pipeline and use a January 2014 environmental impact report by the State Department to satisfy federal requirements that the project be studied for adverse environmental effects.
After their midterm losses, there is little political fallout for Senate Democrats to worry about now. At least 11 Democrats support building the pipeline and Republicans are expected to make up the bulk of votes approving the plan in the Senate next week. Even if it doesn’t pass this year, the GOP has long vowed to approve the pipeline once they won total control of Congress.
With three weeks of campaigning to go, Landrieu and Cassidy came back to Washington at the start of a lame-duck congressional session that was expected to focus primarily on passing a short-term spending bill, paring down a list of Obama administration nominations and perhaps reaching an agreement to extend some tax breaks.
But in recent days, several Democrats and Republicans have cited authorization of the oil pipeline as a modest proposal that could be used to restore bipartisan cooperation in the fractured Congress. Party leaders agreed suggesting that it could be voted on early next year in the new Congress.
Landrieu had other ideas.
“I don’t think we necessarily need to wait until January,” she said Wednesday, and eventually secured an agreement from Democratic and Republican leaders to hold a vote authorizing the pipeline as early as next Tuesday.
House Republican leaders also announced plans to hold a vote as early as Thursday to authorize the pipeline, the ninth time the GOP-controlled House has voted to approve the pipeline in the past six years.
“It is easy to wonder if the Senate is only considering this because of politics, even so, I hope the Senate and the President do the right thing and pass this legislation creating thousands of jobs,” Cassidy said in a statement.
Landrieu was spotted riding the escalator alone up from the Senate trains that carry lawmakers between their offices and the U.S. Capitol, toward a row of elevators. She was stone-faced and declined to answer questions from reporters. Once she reached the top level and stepped off, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the Democratic Party’s most influential campaign strategists, spotted her and walked quickly in her direction.
Schumer, smiling, asked Landrieu to step aside for a private conversation. She shook her head and moved briskly toward the elevator. As she did, she pointed to her phone, saying she had a call. Schumer paused for a moment as she moved away. His smile dropped and then he turned to follow her. “Mary, Mary,” he said, a few steps behind, asking her to speak with him. When she kept moving and ducked into an elevator, he hustled and jumped in to join her as the doors closed.
A few minutes later, Landrieu took to the Senate floor to vent her frustrations and to try to shift the political winds in her direction.
The sudden decision to hold votes means that both chambers could be racing on Thursday to authorize the pipeline first, allowing either Cassidy or Landrieu to rush home and take credit.
Throughout her campaign, Landrieu has touted her strong support for the Keystone pipeline and her chairmanship of the Senate Energy Committee as a major reason for Louisianans to re-elect her. Now, even if she wins next month, Landrieu will lose her perch when Republicans take control of the Senate next year.
On Wednesday morning, Cassidy’s official congressional office issued a statement saying that he will serve on the Senate’s energy panel next year if he wins the Senate seat.
“Senator Landrieu may have talked the talk on energy but she never walked the walk,” Cassidy said in his statement, adding that once he’s in the Senate, “Louisiana will now have representation on this esteemed committee that’s with them, not Barack Obama.”
Construction of the pipeline has been delayed for several years as the Obama administration has conducted a prolonged review of the border-crossing pipeline to determine whether it is in the “national interest.” President Obama has warned that the pipeline will only be approved if it “does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”
A State Department report issued earlier this year found that Keystone probably wouldn’t increase global greenhouse gas emissions.
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