Senate Democrats Kill Keystone Pipeline XL For Obama

In an unprecedented move, President Obama personally made phone calls to Democratic members of the Senate to lobby for no votes on fast tracking the Keystone Pipeline XL through a transportation bill up for a vote Thursday. Eleven Democrats chose not to heed the President's plea and voted with all of the Republicans in the Senate to continue the push for the project. No spin coming out of the White House can make this a winner for President Obama. The vote tally was 56-42. The bill needed 60 votes to pass.

This article written by an Obama-friendly website points out that this vote was further indication that majorities in the House and the Senate favor the project, as do their constituents. And, the actions of the President are laid bare - he does not, in fact, support an "all of the above" attitude towards domestic energy production and energy independence. This is a truly one available action with bi-partisan support.

So, eleven Democrats chose to support the all of the above method to domestic energy production and they are listed here, as it appears in the article:

The 11 Democrats who crossed party lines to support the amendment were Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jon Tester of Montana and Jim Webb of Virginia.

Landrieu said she was not among those getting a call from Obama. And she was not surprised to see 10 Democrats join with her to cross party lines.

Here is Senate Minority Leader McConnell speaking about the bill voted on:

“What we’re seeing in Congress this week is a study in contrasts.

“On the one hand you’ve got a Republican-controlled House that’s about to pass a bipartisan jobs bill that would help entrepreneurs and innovators by getting Washington out of the way. And today we’ve got a Democratic-controlled Senate trying to line up votes against amendments that would create jobs—and a President lobbying against the biggest one."

That sums it up fairly well, I think.