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When Will Obama Veto Keystone XL?

by Celia Darrough

Two weeks after the Senate moved the measure forward, the House passed the Keystone XL pipeline bill, setting Obama up to veto the legislation — as he said he would. The bill, which of course was mostly voted on along party lines, passed the House on a 270-152 vote. If the president doesn't veto it, construction would begin on the oil pipeline that would lead from Canada to the Gulf Coast. So, that immediately begs the question — when will Obama veto Keystone XL?

The president has 10 days to veto a bill, excluding Sundays. He can return the bill to Congress with an explanation for the veto. If two-thirds of both the House and the Senate override the veto, it will become law. But, according to Bloomberg, it doesn't look like either chamber has the numbers needed to do so. If Obama decides to veto, that will be that.

The reasoning behind Obama's vow to veto is that the legislation circumvents his administration's ability to review the project. When he promised to veto the bill in January, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said:

The President has been pretty clear that he does not think that circumventing a well-established process for evaluating these projects is the right thing for Congress to do.