Democrats Block Keystone XL Pipeline Again
November 20, 2014
On Tuesday, Democrats blocked legislation introduced by Senator John Hoeven in the Senate and Rep. Bill Cassidy in the House to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Senate Democrats were on the verge of passing serious, common-sense, bipartisan policy for the first time in recent memory. At the last moment, they chose to deny the country an opportunity for energy security and economic growth. The American people rejected this brand of politics on November 4th. Republicans will end it starting on January 6th. They will rip the Democrats’ red tape off the U.S.-Canada border, so Americans can finally build the Keystone XL pipeline.
Landrieu’s “Leadership” in Perspective
Republicans have asked for the full Senate to hold an up-or-down vote on approval of the Keystone XL pipeline for years. Majority Leader Harry Reid finally allowed it on Tuesday – but only when it had become clear that Senator Mary Landrieu needed a boost.
Democrats granted Senator Landrieu’s unanimous consent request to hold the vote without objection. This was a reversal from June 24, when Senator Barbara Boxer objected to a similar request made by Senator Hoeven. Senator Landrieu nodded to the political nature of the move when she reminded other Democrats in a Senate floor speech last week that she would do everything in her power, both “here and at home on the campaign trail,” to move the pipeline forward because “I am still in a runoff, as you know.”
“Apparently, if it takes a pipeline to transport Mary Landrieu back to the Senate, Democrats were willing to build it.” – Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 11/12/2014
In the end, Senator Landrieu was unable to secure enough votes from her own party to pass the legislation. She will return to the campaign trail to tout her efforts as proof that she fought for the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans have been waging real fights for the pipeline for years, under the leadership of members like Senator Hoeven in the Senate and Rep. Cassidy in the House. It was the Hoeven-Cassidy bill that Senator Landrieu tried to co-opt, and that her fellow Democrats blocked.
Forty-one Democrats voted against the legislation, enough to kill it for the remainder of the 113th Congress. Every Republican voted in favor. Most Republicans have supported legislation to expedite the pipeline’s permit review since at least March 31, 2011, when Senator David Vitter introduced S. 706, the 3-D, Domestic Jobs, Domestic Energy, and Deficit Reduction Act.
Senator Landrieu will try to claim credit for single-handedly cajoling the 13 other Democrats who voted for the bill on Tuesday evening, but a good number of them were more likely reacting to their party’s overwhelming electoral defeat on November 4th. Senator Michael Bennet committed to provide the 13th Democratic vote just last Friday. Coincidentally, he represents the same state as Senator Mark Udall, who lost his bid for reelection on November 4th after refusing to take a clear position on the project.
Ironically, Senator Landrieu apparently lost the support of three Democrats who had backed the pipeline in the past. On March 22, 2013, Senators Chris Coons, Tim Johnson, and Bill Nelson voted for a non-binding budget amendment to express their opinion that the pipeline should be approved. On Tuesday, they voted against the Hoeven-Cassidy bill to approve the pipeline.
Senator Landrieu was equally ineffective at lobbying the president. Although he stopped short of issuing a formal veto threat, his administration strongly implied he would reject the latest bill. The president himself even derided the pipeline’s benefits.
“My government believes that we should judge this pipeline based on whether or not it accelerates climate change or whether it helps the American people with their energy costs and their gas prices. And I have to constantly push back against this idea that somehow the Keystone pipeline is either this massive jobs bill for the United States, or is somehow lowering gas prices.” – President Obama, 11/14/2014
When asked about the prospects of a presidential veto, Senator Landrieu chuckled as she admitted, “I do not have a commitment.” She clearly had failed to persuade the president to acknowledge even the most basic facts about the pipeline. Five reviews had concluded that the project would generate more than 42,000 jobs and cause no significant environmental impacts. Basic oil market economics dictate that adding barrels of oil to global supplies reduces global prices, which in turn reduces U.S. gasoline prices. These findings should have been an easy sell since the president’s very own state and energy departments produced them.
Perhaps the one thing Senator Landrieu was able to extract from the president was his agreement to obfuscate on whether he would veto the bill. In the past, the president issued formal veto threats against similar Republican legislation in his Statements of Administration Policy. This time, the administration declined to put its position in writing for some reason.
Why wasn’t the president straightforward with the American people this time?
Like Tuesday’s vote, Senator Landrieu’s chairmanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had relatively little to do with persuading other Democrats to support passage of a bill approving the Keystone XL pipeline. The committee did so almost entirely on the backs of Republicans, who required no convincing. Senator Joe Manchin was the only Democrat other than Senator Landrieu to vote in favor of that bill, and he had been co-sponsoring Republican legislation on the project since before Senator Landrieu did.
Despite Senator Landrieu’s lobbying, Senator Mark Udall voted against the bill in committee, calling into question just how much “clout” Senator Landrieu gained when she became chair. It might have helped if Senator Landrieu had participated in more committee hearings. According to a Bloomberg analysis on Tuesday: “Between 2009 and this week, Landrieu didn’t speak or submit written testimony or questions at almost 70 percent of the energy committee hearings … Her attendance at 137 of the 200 hearings of the full panel or her subcommittees during that six-year period cannot be confirmed through public records.”
A Republican-Led Battle
Last Friday, for the ninth time in a little over three years, Republicans shepherded a bill across the House floor to expedite approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. Rep. Bill Cassidy led the House’s passage of his bill, H.R. 5682, with an overwhelming 252 votes, including 31 Democrats. Like their colleagues in the House, Republicans in the Senate had been introducing legislation to expedite the project’s review for years.
Senator Landrieu and other Democrats were latecomers to the pipeline’s cause. Senator Landrieu waited until July 31, 2013, to introduce her own legislation – a non-binding resolution expressing the “sense of Congress” that the pipeline should be built. She did not introduce binding legislation until June 26, 2014.
Senator Landrieu also consistently failed to convince her own party to stop blocking legislation that would push the pipeline through the Senate. Last Tuesday was the third time Democrats voted to block binding legislation to approve the project. On March 8, 2012, 42 Democrats voted against Amendment 1537 proposed by Senator Hoeven, denying that legislation the requisite 60 votes. A few days later, on March 13, 2012, 50 Democrats, including Senator Landrieu, voted against Amendment 1826 proposed by Senator Pat Roberts. Democrats also blocked Senator Hoeven’s June 24, 2014, unanimous consent request to hold a vote on the Senate floor, along with other votes over the past few years.
The effort by Republicans to legislatively address the president’s foot-dragging on the pipeline has been tireless. The length to which Democrats have gone to block Senate consideration of these proposals has been unprecedented.
Senator Landrieu and other energy-state Democrats must be judged according to the policies their party actually implements, not the policies their party leaders allow them to pay lip service to in speeches and show votes. Tuesday’s defeat of legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline is disappointing, especially since Senator Landrieu had spent so much time over the previous days promising that she had finally converted enough Democrats to get the pipeline built. This stands in stark contrast to Senator Hoeven’s steady hand in building a bipartisan coalition in the Senate that will ensure similar legislation makes it to the president’s desk early next year.
