Tester Votes For, Then Against Keystone Pipeline

We had one caller into our radio show on Friday morning who was really pleased to hear that Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) had voted in support of the Keystone Pipeline. Finally some hope that bipartisan achievement could actually deliver something for the American people, she said.

I appreciated where she was coming from, and felt bad for throwing cold water on the Friday a.m. vote. But I told her if Tester really wanted to block Biden's efforts to block the Keystone Pipeline, he could stop it- especially in a 50-50 US Senate. His vote would be nothing more than purely symbolic, especially since the Democrat-run House is unlikely to support the Keystone Pipeline.

Turns out even Tester's symbolic support of the Keystone Pipeline didn't last long. Later that same morning, Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) refused to include the Keystone Pipeline measure into the final package, with Tester's support.

As The Washington Times reports:

After voting for the measure to support the pipeline, Sens. Joe Manchin and Jon Tester voted against it, joining the rest of the Democratic caucus early Friday in passing an amendment by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer to strip the Keystone XL language from the budget resolution.

What frustrated supporters is that a vote from either Mr. Manchin or Mr. Tester would have saved the Keystone amendment, sponsored by Sen. Steve Daines, Montana Republican, aimed at boosting legislation to authorize the pipeline after President Biden killed it on his first day in office.

Montana's Republican Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) called out both Democrat Senators for voting against the Keystone Pipeline. Here's one of the tweets from Sen. Daines Friday AM:

The Daily Signal has more:

Daines tweeted that Manchin and Tester “chose to stand with Green New Deal radicals over American jobs & blue-collar workers. They chose to stand against tax revenue for counties & low energy costs for families. Montanans & the American people will know where they stand. But also know this, I won’t stop fighting.”