What appeared just a few days ago to be an agreement on a funding bill to pay for government expenditures through next year now looks to be another in a long string of might-have-beens. Congressional Republicans have set quick approval of the 1,700-mile Keystone XL crude oil pipeline as one of their conditions for approval of the spending bill that includes an extension of the payroll tax cut US taxpayers received in 2011.
The US State Department last month delayed a decision on the trans-border pipeline until after the November 2012 presidential elections. Approval for the proposed pipeline, to be built by Transcanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP), was stopped cold last month on concerns about its route through the sand hills of Nebraska, directly over the Ogallala Aquifer which supplies drinking water to more than 1 million people.
Republicans in the House attached an amendment to the spending bill that would accelerate the timetable for approving the pipeline. The measure passed the Republican-controlled House, but died in the Democratic-controlled Senate. President Obama has said that he will veto a spending bill that includes non-spending amendments.
That’s where things stand today, with federal spending authority set to expire tomorrow. A government shutdown just in time for the holidays does not seem like the best way to celebrate.
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