Lunarfaggot
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2015
- Posts
- 186
Yesterday the Senate tried, and failed, to override President Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act. Obama’s veto was just the third of his presidency, but almost everyone agrees that it will not be his last. My research helps explain why the attempt to override Obama’s veto was doomed from the start.
The success of any override typically depends on the level of support a bill received during final passage. As political scientists Richard Conley and Amie Kreppel suggest, vetoes like the Keystone Pipeline one are the most interesting because the outcome is in doubt. The final passage vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act received around 62 percent support in both the House and the Senate — not far from the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. The Senate had to act first to override the veto because the bill originated in the Senate. So why didn’t the Senate do this?
I find that members of Congress switch their votes on veto override attempts in response to changing electoral or ideological pressures. This time, senators who originally voted against the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act did not face either type of pressure during the veto override attempt.
Every Democratic senator who voted against the bill represents a state that Obama won in 2012. Moreover, most of these senators had already issued statements explaining their opposition to the pipeline. These senators were unlikely to switch their votes after so clearly and publicly explaining their opposition.
Finally, only three of the 20 Democrats who voted against the bill and represent states where Obama won less than 60 percent of the two-party vote are up for reelection in 2016.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...amas-veto-of-the-keystone-pipeline-heres-why/
The success of any override typically depends on the level of support a bill received during final passage. As political scientists Richard Conley and Amie Kreppel suggest, vetoes like the Keystone Pipeline one are the most interesting because the outcome is in doubt. The final passage vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act received around 62 percent support in both the House and the Senate — not far from the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. The Senate had to act first to override the veto because the bill originated in the Senate. So why didn’t the Senate do this?
I find that members of Congress switch their votes on veto override attempts in response to changing electoral or ideological pressures. This time, senators who originally voted against the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act did not face either type of pressure during the veto override attempt.
Every Democratic senator who voted against the bill represents a state that Obama won in 2012. Moreover, most of these senators had already issued statements explaining their opposition to the pipeline. These senators were unlikely to switch their votes after so clearly and publicly explaining their opposition.
Finally, only three of the 20 Democrats who voted against the bill and represent states where Obama won less than 60 percent of the two-party vote are up for reelection in 2016.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...amas-veto-of-the-keystone-pipeline-heres-why/
