Keystone XL

The Keystone Fight Is Uniting Tea Partiers With Environmentalists

Brian Beutler | February 27, 2012, 5:51AM

In Washington, DC, the fight over the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline mostly divides common enemies: Republicans and Democrats; environmentalists and fossil fuel interests; big business and the federal bureaucracy.

But though the project exists in a state of suspended animation, TransCanada -- the company that wants to connect the tar sands in Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico -- is preparing to build anyhow. In particular, on the portion of the pipeline that would link Nebraska to Texas, TransCanada has threatened to use disputed eminent domain powers to condemn privately held land, over the owners' objections. And that's creating unusual allies -- Occupiers, Tea Partiers, environmentalists, individualists -- united to stop TransCanada from threatening water supplies, ancient artifacts, and people's basic property rights.

Read more »

Keystone XL

Hoyer Sees Potential For Cooperation On Keystone

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2012, 2:07PM

Steny Hoyer speaks at press conference with House Ways and Means Committee Democrats. November 30, 2011.

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.

Read more »

Keystone XL

The GOP's Plan To Corner Obama On The Keystone Pipeline

Sahil Kapur | January 30, 2012, 1:02PM

Republicans are pushing full speed ahead to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline via congressional action after President Obama rejected it on the grounds that the narrow time window he had was insufficient to evaluate the environmental consequences. The strategy is aimed at exploiting Democratic divisions and pushing Obama into a corner politically.

Most Senate Republicans -- along with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (WV) -- are now backing legislation to approve of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline. House Republicans intend to attach it to their upcoming infrastructure bill, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Sunday.

Even if both chambers of Congress vote to approve the project, Obama can veto the legislation, and it's unlikely he'll get overridden. But that's what Republicans want him to do: repeatedly take a position against the pipeline so they can bludgeon him with it politically.

Read more »

Keystone XL

Why The GOP's Pipeline Ploy May Wind Up Killing Keystone

Brian Beutler | January 23, 2012, 5:30AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) talks with a reporters in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2011.

House Republicans made a conscious choice to undercut the Keystone XL oil pipeline project, even though members of their own party strongly support it. The politics were too ripe.

But just how badly have they undercut it? It's not a stretch to say that politicking the issue will cost TransCanada -- the firm that was to build the pipeline -- huge sums of money, and may just be the project's death knell.

Read more »

Keystone XL

How Republicans Killed Their Own Pet Oil Pipeline Project

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2012, 5:30AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Houser Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

At the peak of December's payroll tax cut showdown on Capitol Hill, two top Republican aides discussed with me the pros and cons of making the Keystone XL pipeline a centerpiece of the debate.

They relished the idea of forcing President Obama to take a public stand on the pipeline early in an election year, instead of after the election as he had wanted. And they were eager to force him to choose between supporters in the labor movement, some of whom are pushing for the pipeline, and others in the environmental movement who vehemently oppose it. So they decided to go for it.

At the same time they knew he'd likely have to reject the project, and for them that created a dilemma.

"It's a question of whether we'd rather have the pipeline or the issue," said one of the GOP aides. Black or white.

In the end they chose the issue.

Read more »

Keystone XL

Reports: Obama Admin Nixes Keystone Oil Pipeline

Sahil Kapur | January 18, 2012, 12:26PM

The Obama administration has decided not to move forward with the Keystone XL oil pipeline, according to multiple news reports.

The move, which the State Department will reportedly announce Wednesday afternoon, will please environmentalists but anger the business community. It was widely expected after Republicans successfully inserted a provision into the December payroll tax package demanding a decision by the end of February.

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

GOP Wins On Keystone As Senate Agrees To Two Month Payroll Tax Cut Extension

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 7:17PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Senate leaders have agreed to a plan that will prevent key policies, including a two percent payroll tax cut for employees, from lapsing on January 1, 2012, according to top aides. But the agreement will only extends the measures for two months, setting Democrats and Republicans up to relitigate this same fight fight early next year. And it comes at a political cost to Democrats who were forced to relent on a provision forcing President Obama to take a public position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The $30 billion package will be paid for by increasing the fees lenders pay to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It includes two month extensions of the existing two percent payroll tax; emergency unemployment benefits; and the "doc fix" which prevents Medicare physicians from experiencing a deep automatic pay cut.

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

Top Republican: Payroll Tax Cut Is Terrible Idea I'll Support With Enough Enticements

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 3:23PM

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)

In a Bloomberg interview airing this Sunday, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) -- chairman of the House Republicans' campaign committee -- says he thinks cutting the payroll tax for another year is a terrible idea, but one that he can support if paired with enough other goodies.

"I didn't change my mind," Sessions told host Al Hunt. "It is a bad idea. But when you combine that with something else - for instance, when we voted the extension of the tax cuts - when you mirror that with something that's a job stimulus, an economic growth package, then it's a good deal."

Sessions gets a bit more specific, suggesting that the Keystone pipeline or similar measures will be required to get his vote.

HUNT: I mean, what's the bottom line? Not what you - you know, you desire, but what's the bottom line?

SESSIONS: Job growth. How about Keystone pipeline?

HUNT: So you won't support anything that doesn't have Keystone pipeline in it?

SESSIONS: I won't support something that does not show job growth and the development.

This hints at a dynamic that's been largely missed in this debate.

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

McConnell Demands Keystone XL In Any Payroll Tax Agreement

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 1:12PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) conducts a news conference along with fellow GOP members on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2011.

This post was updated at 1:30 p.m.

It's gut check time for Congressional Democrats on the payroll tax cut bill.

Regarding that legislation, Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell emails me with the following statement: "The Leader will not support any bill without the Keystone XL language as part of the agreement."

House Speaker John Boehner is also insisting that he'll amend any Senate-passed payroll tax cut bill to add the Keystone provision to it, if it's not already in there. So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama now have a choice: stick to their guns and object to the provision -- at the risk of allowing the payroll tax cut (and unemployment insurance and the Medicare "doc fix") to expire? Or give in to the GOP.

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

How The Payroll Tax Deal Is Likely To Play Out

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 11:41AM

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks to the press during his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.

With a government shutdown averted, the final item on the Congressional agenda before the year's out is to finalize legislation to renew the payroll tax, extend unemployment benefits, and temporarily fix the Medicare payment formula so that doctors don't take a huge pay cut on the first of the year.

Senate Dem and GOP leaders say they're nearing agreement on such a package, which will be offset with budget cuts and savings, but not with a surtax on millionaires, which Dems finally, officially dropped Thursday night.

So here's the plan now: Later today, the House will pass legislation to fund the government, averting a shutdown. House members will leave town for the weekend while the Senate hammers out its final compromise -- which barring a snag, could pass this weekend with little fuss.

Read more »

Government Shutdown

House GOP Pushes The Envelope In Shutdown, Payroll Tax Fight

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 10:40AM

John Boehner

Late Wednesday night -- in the early hours of Thursday morning, really -- House Republicans decided to go all in on the latest government shutdown fight.

Testing the limits of compliance with their own rule that legislation be posted online for three days before a final vote, GOP leaders, over White House objections, unveiled major appropriations legislation that must pass by Friday at the stroke of midnight if Congress is to avoid a government shutdown.

The move raises one key question for each party. Can Republicans pass these appropriations on their own, if Democrats stick to their guns and withhold their votes. And, if the GOP succeeds, will Senate Democrats and President Obama hold their ground and block the legislation until a key policy issues are addressed, and the parties reach agreement on the separate issue of how to extend the current payroll tax cut into next year.

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

Dems To GOP: Deal Fairly On Payroll Tax Or Shut Down The Government

Brian Beutler | December 13, 2011, 1:05PM

Senate Democrats and the White House are executing a strategy to prevent House Republicans from jamming them with legislation to extend the current payroll tax cut that's been larded up with GOP goodies, according to White House and Congressional aides. For all practical purposes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has linked the payroll tax issue -- and other key end-of-the-year issues -- with legislation to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. And he's presenting Republicans with a choice: deal in good faith on the payroll tax issue, or trigger a government shutdown.

Democrats were worried that House Republicans would close ranks around a version of a payroll holiday that included both must-pass items (such as an extension of unemployment insurance and a patch to prevent Medicare physicians from experiencing a severe pay cut on the first of the year) and GOP poison pills (including a provision forcing the Obama administration to give thumbs-up or thumbs-down to the Keystone XL oil pipeline within 60 days)...then pass it and skip town, leaving Democrats little choice but to swallow their bill whole.

That's exactly the strategy they tried to execute -- and until late Monday it looked like it might work.

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

Lieberman A 'No' On House Payroll Tax Cut Bill

Brian Beutler | December 13, 2011, 10:15AM

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

At a breakfast roundtable with reporters hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said he will not cross the aisle and support GOP legislation to extend the current payroll tax cut, which is expected to pass the House later today.

"I wouldn't accept the House bill," Lieberman said.

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

GOP's Keystone Pipeline Gambit Distracts From Other Measures

Brian Beutler | December 9, 2011, 1:28PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama

In a bid to consolidate support within their caucus -- and to flip the bird to President Obama -- House Republicans have tacked a provision on to their payroll tax cut bill that would force the administration to decide whether to allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days, instead of after the election next year as the administration currently plans.

Though controversial outside of Washington, the pipeline has bipartisan support in Washington, and Republicans -- itching for this fight -- are banking on the idea that some Democrats will cross the aisle and put Senate Dems and Obama in a tough spot.

And to some extent they've been successful. Obama strongly suggested he'd veto the bill over the provision, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called it dead on arrival, and many in the media have painted the GOP's bill as providing Dems a choice between passing the payroll tax cut and blocking the Keystone pipeline.

Read more »