Hoeven On Democrats Getting Behind His Keystone Bill: "Elections Have Consequences"

Yesterday I wrote about Democrats, after years of obstruction and delay tactics, suddenly finding that they’d like to rush approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline to a vote before the end of the lame duck session.

It’s a ploy to bolster support for Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu who is expected to lose a run-off election to Republican Bill Cassidy after failing to get a plurality in the special election. In fact, ND Senator Heidi Heitkamp was on the floor of the Senate today supporting pro-Keystone legislation and gushing about what a great leader Landrieu has been on the issue. Of course, this is the same Heidi Heitkamp who voted to keep Senator Harry Reid as Majority Leader, a man who has helped sandbag the Keystone legislation for the better part of a decade.

The legislation the Senate has taken up is North Dakota Senator John Hoeven’s bill. In a statement which just landed in my inbox, Hoeven seems to be enjoying the irony:

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement regarding Senator Mary Landrieu’s move to bring S. 2280, his Keystone XL approval bill to the Senate floor for a vote:

“Senator Landrieu today asked that my bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline be brought up for a vote. On that bill we have all 45 Republicans, plus eleven Democrats, for a total of 56 cosponsors. Now, Senator Landrieu believes she can bring four more Democrats to get to the required 60 votes to pass and get Senator Reid to allow a vote.

“I have been working for years to pass this legislation, and now the Democratic caucus seems ready to move on it. Elections have consequences. All along, I have said – and I believe – we will pass Keystone because the American people support it. I thought we would have to wait until the new Congress is seated to have the 60 votes. But if 15 Democrats will join us, we can pass the bill now, and we should.

What’s going to be funny is watching Democrats like Heitkamp and Landrieu try to take credit for passing the Keystone XL pipeline when it was their party, and their fellow Democrat Barack Obama, and their caucus leadership which kept it on the sidelines for so long.

Hoeven will be joining me on air on the Mike Kapel Show (I’m sitting in) on WDAY AM970 tomorrow morning.