January 11, 2015

U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R. ND), the Senate's biggest cheerleader for the Keystone XL Pipeline, admits the GOP doesn't have the votes to override a veto from President Obama:

The North Dakota Republican who is sponsoring the bill that would take the decision on whether to allow the project to move forward out of the hands of the State Department made his comments during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."

The President has said he objects to the Keystone legislation because it takes the decision out of the hands of the executive branch.

The chamber's 54 Republicans are all expected to support the bill, as well as nine Democrats. But that's not enough to achieve the two-thirds majority that looks necessary after Obama said last week that he'd veto the measure.

"Right now we've got about 63 [votes]," Hoeven said. "But we're going to the floor with an open amendment process, trying to foster more bipartisanship ... so that we can pass this measure and other measures and either override the veto or attach the bill to other legislation that will get 67 votes."

This fight's not over yet but it's looking like the GOP just keeps embarrassing themselves on not being able to get this pipeline built. Stay tuned.

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