http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/keystone-vote-senate-democrats-mary-landrieu-112788.html?hp=b1_c3Senate Democrats could help Mary Landrieu by allowing Keystone vote
By Elana Schor and Burgess Everett
11/11/14 5:34 PM EST
Updated 11/12/14 8:23 AM EST
The Senate could vote this month on a measure to push through the Keystone XL pipeline — a move that would give Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu a valuable chit ahead of her Dec. 6 runoff in Louisiana.
The prospect of Keystone reaching the Senate floor, which became the subject of speculation since Landrieu and GOP challenger Rep. Bill Cassidy advanced to the runoff a week ago, has now gone from long-shot to possible. Senate Democrats are signaling that there will be an open amendment process that could allow Keystone approval to be attached to either an Internet sales tax bill next week or the defense authorization bill after Thanksgiving.
“It could happen as soon as tomorrow or it could happen two weeks from now, but all signs are pointing to something will happen in the near term,” a Democratic Senate aide said.
Keystone could even come up in a standalone bill if Landrieu or another senator receives unanimous consent to move forward. Although those requests typically get blocked, Democrats say the post-election Senate is a new world.
“If that were to happen and Landrieu were to ask for a vote, it’s extremely unlikely that a Democrat would block it,” said a Senate Democratic leadership aide.
The calculation for the caucus has changed with the impending GOP takeover: Keystone is seen as a top Republican priority anyway, so the caucus’ liberals are resigned to it coming up for a vote eventually, so they believe it might as well take place while Democrats still have the majority and before Landrieu’s runoff. Her reelection would be vital to her party’s hopes of taking back the Senate in 2016.
The potential Democratic strategy leaves several questions unanswered: Can the Senate can move to the defense bill before Louisiana polls open? Will Majority Leader Harry Reid agree to a strategy that could leave the political hot potato of a pipeline in President Barack Obama’s lap this year? Will Republicans object to any request for a standalone vote that could help Landrieu?
A Senate Republican aide confirmed the potential for quick Senate consideration of the $8 billion Keystone project, a top GOP priority that would allow Canada to ship more than 700,000 barrels of heavy oil to the Gulf Coast. Obama has said he would wait until the State Department finishes a long-delayed review of the pipeline before he weighs in.
Passage in the Senate is likely to get the House moving on the measure as well.
“If they pass a good bill, the House will likely pass it, too, and also mock Washington Democrats for pointlessly delaying an important jobs bill for nakedly partisan reasons,” a House GOP leadership aide said today by email.
If the Senate attaches Keystone to the Internet sales tax bill, however, it would likely languish, since House Speaker John Boehner said this week that his conference would not take up the measure.
A senior House GOP aide said that while Senate passage of a Keystone bill “would be a long overdue boost to our economy and energy security,” advancing the pipeline “for blatantly political reasons is status quo for the current majority party in Washington. And last week was a clear indication how that strategy has worked out for them.”
No matter how many votes Keystone snares in the lame-duck session, putting new pressure on the White House over the pipeline is expected to benefit the oil industry.
“Given the overwhelming bipartisan support for the pipeline, now is time to put a bill on the president’s desk,” one industry source said today. “The fact that a Democrat senator could be the one to make it happen should send a clear message to the president: The time for delay is over.”
