President Obama has promised to veto the Keystone XL bill currently in Congress. But before he gets to do that, Senate Democrats are going to use it to make a few important points, and
make Republicans take some hard votes on amendments:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for example, plans to offer a nonbinding resolution on whether lawmakers agree with the 95 percent of scientists who say human activities contribute to climate change.
Of course, for some Republicans it won't be any kind of problem to cast a vote saying they disagree with 95 percent of scientists. Some other amendments might be harder for them:
Another promised amendment would require companies transporting crude oil through the Keystone pipeline to pay into an oil spill cleanup fund. And Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey (D) is expected to offer a measure that would ban the export of any oil shipped through the pipeline.
Ooh, yeah. "No, I don't think oil companies should be responsible for cleaning up after themselves." Senate Republicans probably think that, but it could be hard to explain to voters. Similarly, any support for Keystone coming from the incorrect belief that the pipeline would be exclusively or even mostly for American markets would not mesh well with Republicans voting to allow the tar sands oil to go ... wherever. The message there would be sure, the U.S. takes the risk of spills—for which companies may or may not be required to set aside cleanup funds—but doesn't get the benefits. (Unless you count climate change as a benefit, in which case we all win.)
So, what message do Republicans want to send on these issues? Obama's planned veto should make the oil company-funded oil spill cleanup fund an easy vote, allowing Republicans to say they voted to hold companies accountable while knowing it wasn't likely to matter. But are Republicans willing to challenge oil companies even that much?
8:30 AM PT: Rumor is that Sanders' climate amendment won't get a vote. Funny how quickly Mitch McConnell's promises about his openness to amendments start to evaporate.