House Democratic Leaders Want Keystone Vetted in Committee, Not on Floor
The incoming ranking Democrats on three House committees with jurisdiction over Keystone XL pipeline bills have asked Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) not to bypass the committee process by going straight to the floor for a vote on what they called an issue of such magnitude.
New and returning members of the House “should have the opportunity to consider, debate and propose their own ideas on this legislation through committee hearings and markups, before it is scheduled for House floor consideration,” the three wrote in a Dec. 30 letter to Boehner.
They are Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the ranking members-elect on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Energy and Commerce, and Natural Resources committees, respectively.
The letter said a vote is expected on the floor in the first two weeks of the new Congress.
The Democrats said the committee process would provide Congress with “new information that has come to light” since the last time the House considered the controversial project.
First, the proposed route for the pipeline remains unclear in Nebraska, where a court case is pending over the route, the three said in the letter.
They also noted that over the past five years, production of crude oil in the United States has skyrocketed, but demand has recently slackened, resulting in falling prices for crude oil.
“The significant decrease in the price of gasoline in the United States illustrates the changed circumstances,” they said.
Lastly, the pipeline is to carry crude oil extracted via oil sands production in Canada, but falling prices and environmental concerns make future production in the region uncertain, they said.
