Brian Beutler January 31, 2012, 2:07 PM

If Republicans drop their political motivations for pursuing the Keystone XL pipeline, they’ll find a sympathetic ear in House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.

The second most powerful Democrat in the House suggested on Tuesday that both the will and the legislative vehicles exist to move forward on Keystone in a bipartisan fashion if Republicans attach it to forthcoming infrastructure legislation in away that allows the administration to fully assess the project’s merits as required under existing law.

“The issue is how do you include it,” Hoyer told reporters at his weekly Capitol briefing. “If you’re trying to jam the President on this consideration, that’s given to him by law to consider whether or not this is something that is safe to do and meets EPA standards, then I think Democrats would generally oppose it.”

Republicans are trying to turn Keystone into a national political liability for President Obama. But by forcing the issue the way they have, they’ve actually made it much less likely that the project will ever be given the go-ahead.

Congress could step in and accelerate the project, but Hoyer says that won’t happen if Republican insist on doing so in a way that sets aside existing environmental concerns, for the purposes of embarrassing the President.

“A poison pill is trying to put the President in a corner on this issue for political purposes as opposed to substantively getting this considered on its merits,’ Hoyer said. “I personally believe it has merit. But I don’t believe that we ought to put the administration in a position where they can’t consider it in a fashion that is provided for under the law.”

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Infrastructure, Keystone XL, Steny Hoyer