THE DAILY WHIP: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

Suspension (1 bill)

1. H.R. 431 – To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Foot Soldiers who participated in Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March in March of 1965, which served as a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Rep. Sewell – Financial Services)

H.Res. 100 – Rule Providing for Consideration of S. 1 – Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act (Sen. Hoeven – Transportation and Infrastructure/Energy and Commerce) (One Hour of Debate).  The Rules Committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for one hour of general debate, with 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on the Transportation and Infrastructure and 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The Rule allows one motion to commit and waives all points of order against the resolution.

The Rules Committee rejected a motion by Ms. Slaughter of New York to consider S. 1 under an open Rule. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

S. 1 – Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act (Sen. Hoeven – Transportation and Infrastructure/Energy and Commerce) (One Hour of Debate). This bill would declare TransCanada’s revised proposal for the Keystone XL pipeline to be Congressionally approved and would allow construction of the pipeline across the U.S.- Canadian border to proceed. It would also prospectively approve operation and maintenance of the project as well as any subsequent revisions to the pipeline’s route by the State of Nebraska. The pipeline would transport oil sands crude from Canada and shale oil produced in North Dakota and Montana to Gulf Coast refineries.

Under the bill, the final supplemental environmental impact statement (FSEIS) issued in January 2014 by the State Department would be deemed sufficient to satisfy all requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. The bill also consolidates judicial review of the pipeline project, making the DC Circuit Court of Appeals the court of original jurisdiction for legal actions taken to challenge the construction of the pipeline under Federal law. Lastly, the bill includes a savings clause that seeks to assure private property owners whose land may need to be accessed in order to construct the pipeline that the bill does not override other federal, state or local laws related to pipeline siting.

The Keystone XL provisions of this bill are very similar to the ones in the bill passed by the House on January 9; the Senate bill does not modify them substantively. S. 1 adds six provisions to the text of the House-passed bill, including two ‘Sense of the Senate’ amendments which state that (1) “climate change is real and not a hoax” and that (2) the House should send the Senate a bill to ensure that all forms of bitumen or synthetic crude oil derived from bitumen are subject to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund’s per-barrel excise tax. It includes an amendment which adds a new subsection, stating that land for the pipeline and facilities described in the bill “may only be acquired consistently with the Constitution.” It also includes the language of three amendments that would: enhance federal energy efficiency programs, create a new program to assist school districts in building energy retrofit projects, and add a provision stating that the bill does not change any trust obligations or treaty requirements of the United States with respect to consultation with tribes.

Bill Text for S. 1:
PDF Version

Background for S. 1:
CRS Report: Keystone XL Pipeline: Overview and Recent Developments

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Thursday, February 12: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider H.R. 644 – “Fighting Hunger Incentive Act of 2015” (Rep. Reed – Ways and Means) (Subject to a Rule).