Sen. Mary Landrieu says she has enough votes to pass Keystone XL

November 17:

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., told reporters that she has enough votes to pass a bill to build the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, which comes up for a vote Tuesday.

Asked whether the vote count was still at 59 — one shy of the 60 needed to blow up a filibuster — Landrieu said, "It's not."

"I feel very comfortable," Landrieu said in the Capitol, with a smile. "It may be more [than 60]."

There's few senators still in play for the bill from Landrieu and Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., which comes on the heels of the House last week passing identical legislation sponsored by Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Landrieu's Dec. 6 runoff opponent.

It's a bill that's rife with electoral politics. Landrieu has portrayed herself as a dealmaker in the upper chamber while national Republican organizations have said she's ineffective, in part because a May attempt to bring up the same legislation failed.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told reporters he's still leaning toward voting against the bill. "You'll know when we get to the K's," King said of his upcoming vote.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he's also leaning no, but that he hasn't fully made up his mind. His spokesman, Ian Koski, tweeted Monday evening that, "Sen. Coons cares a lot about Sen. Landrieu. OF COURSE he’s still listening to her. Still, no reason to believe his position has changed."

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also remains a question mark. He didn't say whether he would support the bill during a Sunday appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," though he said that President Obama should have "the opportunity to use his authority on a timely basis."

Obama has hinted that he would veto the bill because it would circumvent an ongoing review at the State Department. The application to build the Canada-to-Texas pipeline has been in the federal government's hands more than six years.

"With respect to Keystone, I’ve said consistently — and I think I repeated in Burma, but I guess I’ve got to answer it once more — we’re going to let the process play itself out. And the determination will be made in the first instance by the Secretary of State," Obama said during a Monday press conference at the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia.

But the White House has not issued an official stance on the Keystone XL bill, despite releasing official statements on several other bills coming up this week in Congress.

Hoeven said there were still some undecided votes, but noted he only had a firm 59 behind the legislation.

"We've got 59 announced. I think we'll get there, yeah. But we won't know until the vote," Hoeven said, without detailing who might swing behind the bill.

Source: www.washingtonexaminer.com/sen.-mary-landrieu-says-she-has-enough-votes-to-pass-keystone-xl/article/2556295?