Supporters of a Senate bill that would approve the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline are two votes shy of the 60 needed to proceed to a vote.
The targets leading up to the expected Tuesday vote are Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla. If they back the bill, it could give lead sponsor Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., a victory that might give her a boost in her Dec. 6 runoff contest against Republican challenger Rep. Bill Cassidy, who is leading in polls.
Bennet, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is charged with getting Democrats elected to the upper chamber, refused to answer reporters when asked which way he would vote. Nelson, whose seat is up for grabs in 2016, told the Washington Examiner simply, “Stay tuned.”
All 45 Republican senators back the bill, which has Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., as the lead Republican sponsor. It would approve the Canada-to-Texas pipeline, which has been in administrative limbo for six years as builder TransCanada Corp. awaits a cross-border permit to complete the northern leg.
National Republican organizations have pointed to Landrieu’s struggles to pass her Keystone XL legislation as proof that she lacks clout, though she has based much of her campaign on her dealmaking abilities and her senior position on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She would be the top Democrat if she wins re-election.
But as Landrieu and Hoeven work to convince Bennet and Nelson, the House will be passing identical legislation Friday that Cassidy is sponsoring.
“After failing for the last six years to pass the Keystone [XL] pipeline, the clock has run out on desperate Democrat Mary Landrieu,” said Brook Hougesen, an NRSC spokeswoman.
Sen. Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat who opposed Landrieu’s bill when it came up in May but said he would vote for it this time, said Landrieu’s task is much harder than Cassidy’s when it comes to getting Keystone XL through the chamber.
“If Mary is successful here in corralling these Democrats … that’s a far bigger accomplishment, a far harder thing to do. And we would hope and expect that she gets some credit,” Carper told reporters Thursday.
Even if the bill doesn’t clear the upper chamber, Hoeven said it will pass when Republicans, combined with supportive Democrats, have a filibuster-proof majority in January. Hoeven expects a veto from President Obama, since Obama’s press secretary said Wednesday the president has taken a “dim view” of similar legislation. But Republicans could tie it to a broader energy or spending bill to build enough support to override a veto.
“If the president vetoes it we’ll bring it back and combine it something that will get additional support. So I think we’ll get it either way,” Hoeven said.
The question in the near term becomes: How much do Democrats want to help an ailing Landrieu?
Bennet’s moves will be closely watched. He told the Wall Street Journal in May that he supports the pipeline, and said that the project had “become ridiculously political.” And as head of the DSCC, which notched wins in only two contested races last week, Bennet still at least has Landrieu to work for.
Not that that’s how Bennet is approaching the vote.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who was named the next DSCC chairman on Thursday, wouldn’t speak about what Bennet would or should do given his role as current chairman.
“Here’s how I look at it — you’re a U.S. senator first,” Tester said in response to a question from the Examiner. “You’ve got to do what’s right for the U.S. Senate.”
