Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is attacking Republicans for trying to force the Obama administration to approve the Keystone XL pipeline while simultaneously promising Democrats a renewed spirit of bipartisanship in Congress.
“There’s going to be an energy hearing on Wednesday, and right now, the Republicans say they’re going to move forward on the Keystone pipeline,” Warren said Monday. “If we’re going to move forward on something how about something that more of us can agree on?”
“A bill that’s about energy conservation, energy efficiency, and about jobs and has strong bipartisan support. There is a place we can start.”
Separately, Warren told the editorial board of MassLive.com that the GOP’s push for Keystone belied the party’s purported eagerness to work with Democrats. “This tells me that with the Republican rhetoric that they are going to find things for us to work together on—their actions don’t match their words.”
Warren’s criticisms came a day before the White House formally announced that President Obama will veto legislation forcing his hand on the pipeline. Senate Democrats have previously expressed confidence that Republicans would be unable to override a veto.
“I think there will be enough Democratic votes to sustain the president’s veto,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday.
During last month’s end-of-year press conference, the president signaled his skepticism over the pipeline’s purported advantages for Americans, calling it a “nominal” benefit for US consumers and a boon for Canadian oil producers.
