President Obama will veto a bill authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline if it passes Congress, his spokesman said on Tuesday, setting up a clash between the White House and the new Republican-led Congress.
“I would not anticipate that the president would sign this legislation,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said during a briefing. He later clarified that the president would indeed veto the bill.
The Keystone bill was the first introduced in the Senate in the new Congress, and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the new majority leader, has vowed to make it the first measure sent to the president’s desk. The House is expected to pass the bill on Friday, while the Senate is expected to take up the measure next week.
It was widely expected that Mr. Obama would veto the measure. As written, the bill would remove the requirement that the president authorize the construction of the oil pipeline to Canada, and instead give that authority to Congress. Mr. Obama issued a veto threat to a similar bill passed by the House in 2013.
News courtesy » The New York Times »» FirstDraft
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