Demonstrators march with a replica of a pipeline during a protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline outside the White House on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Demonstrators against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, protest outside the law offices of Nebraska Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood, in Norfolk, Neb., Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011, while Alex Pourbaix, president of TransCanada Corp.'s energy and oil pipelines, holds a meeting inside with state senators to discuss the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline through the state. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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In this Oct. 13, 2010, the sandhills near Mills in north central Nebraska, through which the Keystone XL pipeline is planned to be built, is shown. TransCanada's second pipeline, the $7 billion Keystone XL, is planned to carry crude oil from tar sands near Hardisty, Alberta to the Gulf Coast is now delayed indefinitely, with little official explanation. The company had hoped to begin laying pipe by the end of the year, but those prospects have dimmed. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Demonstrators march with a replica of a pipeline during a protest to demand a stop to the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline outside the White House on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Demonstrators for the Keystone XL pipeline, right, and a demonstrator against the pipeline meet outside Pershing Auditorium near the state Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, before a hearing on the pipeline. Opponents of the pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to Texas through the sandhills of Nebraska expressed concern about the pipeline's effect on the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast subterranean reservoir that spans a large swath of the Great Plains and provides water to eight states, while supporters of the pipeline, which include labor unions and business groups, spoke of jobs and development and energy security. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (AP)
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Protesters opposing the Keystone XL pipeline carry a mock pipeline in front of Pershing Auditorium in Lincoln, Neb., Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, before a public hearing began inside. Environmentalists and landowners, who held a rally against the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to Texas through the sandhills of Nebraska, expressed concern about the pipeline's effect on the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast subterranean reservoir that spans a large swath of the Great Plains and provides water to eight states, while supporters of the pipeline, which include labor unions and business groups, held an opposing rally and spoke of jobs and development and energy security. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (AP)
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Demonstrators for and against the Keystone XL pipeline gather outside Pershing Auditorium near the state Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011. Federal officials head to Nebraskas capital Tuesday as public hearings about a proposed oil pipeline that would span the country from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico move to the state where opposition to the $7 billion plan has been strongest. Opponents of the pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to Texas through the sandhills of Nebraska expressed concern about the pipeline's effect on the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast subterranean reservoir that spans a large swath of the Great Plains and provides water to eight states, while supporters of the pipeline, which include labor unions and business groups, spoke of jobs and development and energy security. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (AP)
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Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman speaks during a news conference in Lincoln, Neb., Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011, with Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy, right. Heineman said he will not convene a special session of the legislature despite a call by Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm, who wants the state to enact legislation to protect Nebraska's Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer from the Keystone XL pipeline project, that some say is an environmental threat. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (AP)
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Actress Daryl Hannah is arrested by U.S. Park Police in front of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, during a protest against the Keystone oil pipeline. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP)
House Speaker John Boehner said Republicans will include a provision to approve the Keystone XL pipeline in a bill reauthorizing highway and mass-transit programs if necessary.
Republicans this week will introduce the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, which would extend surface transportation programs for five years beyond the expiration date of March 31. If Congress doesn’t approve the controversial pipeline before the House takes up its highway bill, Republicans will insert the Keystone XL language, the Ohio Republican told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“If it’s not enacted before we take up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, it’ll be part of it,” Boehner said.
Republicans are angry with the Obama administration’s denial of a permit for the TransCanada Corp. tar sands crude pipeline from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. Obama laid the blame on the GOP, saying a Feb. 21 deadline didn’t let the State Department finish a crucial environmental review. TransCanada has said it will reapply with an alternate route.
Current GOP bills to approve Keystone XL face tough odds getting through the Democratic-held Senate by themselves, but Republicans say they’ll try to wrap them into other legislation just as they did with the 60-day deadline. Beyond the highway bill, they have mulled including the Keystone XL language in a bill to extend the payroll tax break and unemployment benefits through the end of the year.
Already the House GOP bill would tie in expanded drilling offshore and on federal lands to generate revenues to cover some of the legislation’s costs. But Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said that type of provision is too controversial.
A Senate committee unanimously cleared a bipartisan agreement on a two-year highway bill last fall.
Additionally Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., introduced Keystone XL proposal he has floated for a while on Monday. His bill would let Congress approve the pipeline under the Constitution’s commerce clause. In a report requested by Hoeven, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said recently that legislation “related to cross-border facility permitting is unlikely to raise significant constitutional questions.”
“Our legislation not only acknowledges the vital national interest this project represents on many levels, but also works in a bipartisan way to begin construction,” Hoeven, whose bill has 42 Republicans and one Democrat as cosponsors, said in a statement.
Another proposal from Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., would transfer State Department authority on the border-crossing pipeline to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and require the latter body to approve it within 30 days or it will be deemed approved.
