Obama ‘Out of Excuses’ to Veto Keystone XL Pipeline Bill: US Lawmakers

WASHINGTON, January 9 (Sputnik) – US President Barack Obama no longer has the right to veto the Republican party's priority bills including the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, after a Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on Friday to support the pipeline's proposed route, the Kentucky lawmaker said in a statement following the court's decision.

"President Obama is out of excuses for deciding whether or not to allow thousands of Americans to get back to work," McConnell said in a statement on Friday. "Today's ruling provides the perfect opportunity for the President [Obama] to change his unproductive posture on this jobs project and reverse his veto threat."

Senator McConnell warned that Congress would soon pass the Keystone Pipeline bill, one that the lawmakers say will help the US economy by creating jobs and "put thousands of Americans back to work."

"The president [Obama] has every right to sign it [the Keystone XL Pipeline bill]," McConnell said.

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner also echoed Senator McConnell's stance on the passage of the Keystone XL Pipeline bill saying that the bill would help the US economy.

"We [US Congress] will also vote to once again approve the Keystone pipeline, and the thousands of jobs and increased energy security that come with it," Boehner said in a statement on Monday. "Together, these bipartisan, common-sense proposals represent an opportunity for the president to stop waving his veto pen and start working with the new American Congress to make a real difference on behalf of middle-class families."

President Obama has been warning Congress that if the bill is presented to him that he would veto it. On Friday, the White House said that the Obama administration's position on the bill had not changed, and that he would still likely veto the bill if it were presented to him despite the Nebraska judge's recent decision to support the construction of the pipeline.

"Our posture and our position hasn't changed. This is a process that [is] still underway at the State Department," White House spokesperson Eric Schultz said during a press briefing on Friday.

Schultz said that the US Department of State was still reviewing the details of bill before the Obama administration could proceed with making any final decisions.

"As you know it [the Keystone XL Pipeline bill] is undergoing rigorous review and we're going to wait for that review to be completed before the president makes any decisions," Schultz added.

The US House has passed the Keystone bill on Friday, after the US Senate Energy Committee voted to pass the bill that would approve the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline project, which allows TransCanada to build and operate the pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to the US Gulf Coast. The Senate is going to discuss the bill next week.

Activists have long claimed the pipeline will contribute to the climate change and will not offer a lot of economic benefits as many on Congress say that will create. Supporters of the bill stand by the January State Department final Environmental Impact Statement that concluded there will be no significant impact on the environment.