Thune: Following Senate Passage of Keystone XL, All Eyes on the President

Following Senate Passage of Keystone XL, All Eyes on the President

“This is the kind of common-sense legislating the American people hired America’s New Congress to do.”

John_Thune,_official_portrait,_111th_CongressWASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement on the Senate’s bipartisan passage of a bill that would approve the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline:

“Keystone XL would support thousands of jobs and invest billions of dollars in the economy at no expense to taxpayers. This is the kind of common-sense legislating the American people hired America’s New Congress to do. The president is out of excuses. He should support this project and join Republicans in getting Washington working again for the American people.”

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27 thoughts on “Thune: Following Senate Passage of Keystone XL, All Eyes on the President”

  1. Tthose people who have land should be told what to do.We will just go through their their land.John doesnt care and neither does slick Mike ram it through.

    1. Can you believe the hypocrisy? The same folks that would normally scream socialism at the mention of eminent domain suddenly support eminent being used by a foreign company to take the land of Americans.

      1. you have a couple of false notions about the legal process and traditional usage of eminent domain. please review kelo vs new london, in which the city of new london was supported by a narrow split decision at the state and national supreme court level, in their plan to condemn private property so that a second private party could move forward on folding the property into an economic development project. the keystone usage of land has nothing to do with the urban renewal of blighted property to increase its tax revenue generation and value. this is more in line with the classic granting of right of way to the large-scale path of a utility or publicly sanctioned accomodation. your objection aside, and notwithstanding a veto by president obama, the project is on an approval path until some probable future action makes it otherwise. the odds are against this project for other reasons, so relax.

        1. jaa dee your constant harping on eminent domain when nobody is taking the bait is kind of tiresome.

      2. Jaa Dee, you clearly have not read what Republicans are all about. They are for limited government and private property rights.

    2. And you have some land impacted by this, or are you just generally supportive of farmers?

      Sometimes things have to go through people’s land, and this isn’t that unusual. John and Mike are doing the right thing by passing Keystone, and let the landowners get compensated reasonably for having a pipe go through their land; that is fair. Is it fair to hamstring energy production for the benefit of the whole country to placate a handful (relatively speaking) of landowners?

  2. Jaa dee,

    You are so clueless it is laughable. Your understanding of a conservative is basically nonsense and goofy. My analogy of dopers in a basement playing video games is wholly appropriate because your arguments might not even win in that basement.

  3. It really does not matter in the end. President Obama has said he is going to veto this bill. This bill did not pass with a veto-proof majority. Unless Senator Thune and other supporters can convince four Senators to change their votes and Representative Noem can convince some Representatives to change their votes, this is not going to happen. I do not see that happening.

  4. Obama openly declared he will veto, and that’s a shame. The amount of chicken little rhetoric from environmentalists and NIMBY property owners is comical. Up to this point in his time as President, Obama has vetoed, what, 2 bills? Now with a GOP controlled hill, it is going to spike. Remember, though, that we are the party of no. Even when no brainer bills like this one get smoked.

    1. It’ll be interesting to see what Obama extracts from the Republicans in exchange for his signature. Looked like they didn’t have enough juice to overturn the veto. There is a lot of good precedent from Clinton’s term on how the Republicans got some of what they wanted and how the President got some of what he wanted.

      Obama has no pressure at this point and the Republicans do have all the pressure to prove they can govern. Maybe he’ll get some actual infrastructure dollars to go along with the blessing that XL has bestowed upon us.

      1. AO this Keystone XL will probably end up on President Hillary Clinton’s desk. Do you think she will sign or let this white elephant of a project die?

        1. I think President Obama will use it to bargain for something he wants. I really expect him to use it as a chip to get some money for some badly-needed infrastructure improvements. He connected those two issues in the SOTU.

          1. obama will never ever ever ever ever ever ever approve keystone x-l. not ever under any circumstance. to actually make a deal and sign it would be to open the door to changing all the rest of his crap one increment at a time and he’s not that kind of dictator.

      2. First, the Republicans have plenty of juice, but the citizens of the country don’t have enough “juice” with the Democrats to convince them to pass something that is a good idea.

        Second, Obama has never had any pressure during his presidency because he doesn’t care what the American public thinks-he is all-knowing and is better at making decisions regarding your life than you are.

        Third, Obama has shown he can’t govern-he has not been a leader but a constant campaigner-so it’s quite hypocritical of the left to put all the onus on the Republicans to govern, but it is certainly not unexpected as the Democrats don’t put the bar very high for their leaders.

  5. Olly,

    I think you are correct. Keystone will be part a bargain. The five votes short on override are there for the right deal and Obama/Boehnet/McConnell all know it.

    The question is what the GOP will give to either get five votes or Presidents signature.

    My gut is GOP would prefer to give to their fellow Senators vs Obama. Prolly come down to where the better deal is.

    1. Now we’re talking politics instead of demonization. Maybe there is hope after all.

      1. he’s the great demonizer. i tell you, if he enacts one thing that looks like it goes against climate-scienceology, for any deal whatsoever, he looks like the hypocrite he is, and he’s not about to go there.

  6. The most anti-science, anti-jobs, and anti-growth president ever will hopefully see the light.

    But, not much to see when you’re focused on the next hole.

  7. Anonymous 11:30:

    Obama is in a position he has never been in before (GOP House and Senate) so it is hard to guess with anything but your gut on what he will do. His options are:

    1) Not negotiate on anything. This will push the GOP Senate to wholly negotiate with Senate Dems. This is dangerous for a President because he may become irrelevant.

    2) Go direct to the Republicans and cuts his deals for his priorities.

    3) Form a coalition with Senate Dems where priorities are chosen together.

    I think #3 is least likely because of rumors of his poor relationship with Reid (who is up for re-election). I think this is remote because the relationship with Boehner/McConnell is probably worse even than his relationship with Reid.

    Thus, I’m with you but for a slightly different reason. At this stage of Presidencies, they start thinking of legacy. Obama’s legacy will be protected and advocated by the far left and they will be less likely to do so if he compromises.

    1. mr jones, your conclusion was kind of what i was veering toward, for the same, reason, to keep his legacy intact. but more vitally important than that is the reason that you tell the big lie to sell your programs to begin with. even goebbels knew you double down on sticking to your story come what may, in order to stay the course on your goals. obama MUST force the Congress to override every single thing he vetoes, and he’ll veto everything he said he’d veto. it’s all about the legacy, and the story-template (or lie if you will) that holds it all together.

      1. this is a good thing though because it’s up to centrist congressional democrats to finally get the guts to reform what they do politically and not kowtow to the technocracy. congress must be re-empowered by both parties.

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