This is the "show down" moment on Keystone XL in the Senate. Can you chip in to make sure we hold the line, and sustain President Obama's veto of this Climate Killing Pipeline?
Friend,
Keystone XL is standing on the brink in the U.S. Senate. Republican Leaders have refused to send the bill to President Obama, who is expected to veto it, until after they get back from this week's vacation.
But they're not resting on their laurels - they're whipping votes, looking for two or three more Democrats to add to the nine they already convinced to betray their party and their president by voting for KXL last month. Four votes in the Senate is all that separates us from holding the line to stop KXL where it stands, and a crushing defeat for President Obama and climate justice activists everywhere if his veto is overridden.
But I'm not worried, not yet anyway, because while Republican leaders are looking for a few more yea votes, we've got 78,000 nays - including yours. Over 70,000 activists like you have written to their senators asking them to sustain the veto, and stop Keystone XL. Can you chip in a few bucks to make sure this message is delivered at the critical moment? We need funds to:
- Print every letter you signed, and deliver it to both Senators, approximately 150,000 times.
- Run ads in the districts of the so-called “nimrod 9” Democrats who voted for the Keystone XL bill despite the request of their president and party leaders not to.
- Pressure the 53 Republicans who voted that “climate change is real, and not a hoax” to explain how they can still support a climate killing pipeline.
I don't think there's any doubt that this Keystone fight has gone on longer in the Senate than anyone expected. To his credit, the president has been steadfast in saying the right thing: No matter how they vote, and when they finally send him the bill to force approval of Keystone, he will veto it.1
But a lot has also changed in the last few weeks: Nine Democrats betrayed their party and the president's personal request -- not to mention the climate, our water, air and their constituents -- by voting in favor of the keystone oil pipeline. Nine votes isn't enough to override a veto, but it's a very troubling example. If more than 20 percent of the Democratic caucus can't be counted on to stand up for the climate on this one issue, what's to stop a few more cowardly politicians from jumping ship? Chip in here to hold the so-called "nimrod nine" Democrats accountable, and stop Keystone XL.
Even more baffling was the vote on an amendment that declared "climate change is real, and not a hoax." Nearly every single member of the Senate voted for that amendment, including leading Republican Climate Denier Sen. James Inhoffe. But then every single Republican and many Democrats went on to approve the bill it was attached to, which the EPA, James Hansen, and dozens of Nobel laureates have said will contribute to the climate change that's cooking our planet.2 Chip in here to show Republican leaders you can't be anti-climate change and pro Keystone XL at the same time.
Finally, there's the chicanery of Republican leaders to puzzle over. After weeks of debate and amendments, wrangling and press conferences, they were still four votes short of the tally they needed to override a veto. So rather than follow the usual rules, and even after the pomp and circumstance of their own fake "signing ceremony" last Friday, they chose to sit on the Keystone XL bill this week and not send it to President Obama. What reason could they have for delaying his inevitable veto a few more days? Could they be working on some secret plan to flip a few more votes and override the veto? That's what Sen. Hoeven, the sponsor of SB1 to build the Keystone XL pipeline has hinted at. Chip in here to hold the line and help us deliver more than 78,000 letters (including yours) to the Senate before it's too late to stop Keystone XL.
We can't let an override happen. But we can't do any of this without your support. With no funding from corporations or foundations, Environmental Action counts on members like YOU to help us raise the funds it takes to fight and win these big battles. Please chip in here to make sure we hold the line, and stop Keystone XL.
Thanks,
Drew Hudson and the team at Environmental Action
1 - Alan Neuhauser, House Approves Keystone XL, Setting Veto Showdown With White House, US News and World Report, February 11, 2015
2 - Danielle Droitsch, Nobel Laureates Speak out in Washington Post against Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, NRDC swithcboard July 16, 2013
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