A bit of prognosticating on the Keystone pipeline, one of the issues supposedly at play if Republicans take the Senate. Conventional wisdom holds that the odds of the pipeline getting approved will go up if
Republicans control both houses of Congress. Yet President Obama is the key
swing vote on the whole issue, no matter what happens in the election.
For the pipeline to go through, the State Department must approve
a permit. That’s entirely up to the Obama administration. A
Republican-controlled Congress could pass a bill overriding the need for a
permit — but Obama would have to sign it! This raises the question of whether
Obama and State will simply approve the Keystone permit at some point during
the lame-duck session that follows the elections, or approve it once the next
Congress gets to work. Thoughts?
