Senators wrangle over Keystone XL measure
A symbolic amendment introduced by Sen. Steve Daines narrowly passed with support from two Democrats before being stripped from budget resolution.
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Montana Free Press
The controversial Keystone XL pipeline found its way into a complicated Congressional budget process late last week when Sen. Steve Daines introduced an amendment to the Senate’s budget resolution signifying support for the project, which was effectively shut down last month when
President Joe Biden retracted the cross-border permit
his predecessor issued in 2017.
Though largely symbolic — budget resolutions are more about signalling priorities than making law — it was notable when the Daines measure,
Amendment 678
to
Continuing Resolution 5, narrowly passed with affirmative votes from just two Democratic senators: Montana’s Jon Tester and West Virginia lawmaker Joe Manchin. The amendment, which was aimed at “the improvement of relations between the United States and Canada with regard to the Keystone XL Pipeline,” passed 52-48 late Thursday evening.
Many GOP lawmakers cheered the development.

Billings native Amanda Eggert covers environmental issues for MTFP. Amanda is a graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism who has written for Outside magazine and Outlaw Partners. At Outlaw Partners she led coverage for the biweekly newspaper Explore Big Sky. Contact Amanda at aeggert@montanafreepress.org.
This story originally appeared on Montana Free Press. It is published under a Creative Commons license.
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