On Tuesday (November 18, 2014), the U.S. Senate defeated Bill S. 2280 (the Bill), a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Approval of the Keystone project was stopped by a single vote, as the Bill received only 59 of the 60 affirmative votes required to continue forward in the legislative process. Shortly after the vote, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senator of Kentucky and the incoming U.S. Senate majority leader from the Republican Party spoke on the Senate floor and stated that he would reintroduce a bill in support of the Keystone XL pipeline once the new Senate convenes in the new year. In 2015, the Republican Party, which has traditionally been in support of Keystone, will control both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in eight years. It is also important to note that even if both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate approve the Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama still has the power to veto approval of the project. However, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate together may override a presidential veto in certain circumstances.
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