As the U.S. Senate considered the adoption of a measure to authorize the construction of the controversial Keystone Pipeline, amendments were offered to the bill covering a number of topics. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) offered amendments to extend the Secure Rural Schools Act; those amendments were never formally debated on the Senate Floor and subsequently not included in the bill. Senate Republicans tried, but failed, to advance amendments on endangered species, national monuments, wilderness areas, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The amendments passed with a majority of votes, but failed to garner the 60 votes necessary to be included in the bill.
The amendment to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund failed to advance by one vote. The endangered species vote was an attempt to remove the lesser prairie chicken in the Mid-West from the list of “threatened” species. The national monuments amendment would have required the President to garner support of state and local governments before designating a national monument, which he is currently authorized to do without the consent of Congress. The Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) – who was managing the bill on the Senate Floor – lost a vote on lifting interim restrictions on areas under consideration for wilderness protection. Senator Murkowski’s amendment was hastily drafted after the White House announced its intention to ask Congress to designate 12 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness and vowed to manage the land as if it were wilderness regardless of whether Congress takes action.
Late Thursday, the Senate finally adopted the Keystone Pipeline bill despite a flurry of last-minute amendment proposals. The authorization bill received 62 votes on the Senate Floor, which is less than the needed 67 required to over-ride a veto, which is expected from President Obama. It is unclear on what procedural steps will occur next in order for the bill to reach President Obama’s desk; however, it is likely that no further amendments will be made.