Breaking: President Obama Vetoes Keystone Pipeline-Conservatives Furious

President Barack Obama, in office more than six years, has just issued his first major veto of legislation: the Keystone Pipeline.

As promised, President Barack Obama this afternoon, amid no fanfare or public ceremony, quietly executed his first major veto of congressional legislation since taking office more than six years ago. The target of the veto: the highly-controversial Keystone XL Pipeline bill.

Falsely framed as a “jobs bill” by Republicans and Tea Party members, Keystone would create in total a few dozen permanent jobs. The bill would put American lands at risk for pollution, heighten climate change risks, and would not, contrary to Republican claims, make the U.S. any more energy independent.

“Mr. Obama retains the authority to make a final judgment on the pipeline on his own timeline,” the New York Times notes. “The White House has said the president would decide whether to allow the pipeline when all of the environmental and regulatory reviews are complete.” 

The Times classified the action as “a demonstration of political strength directed at Republicans.”

After the veto, technically the President’s third since taking office, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell called the legislation “a bipartisan bill that would support thousands of good jobs,” and claimed, “the President has yielded to powerful special interests.”

“This is bipartisan legislation being vetoed by a partisan president,” Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming said. “I think the president has made his decision to side with special interests. This is going to further marginalize the president in the last two years.”

Republicans on Twitter were clearly furious, and did not mince words.

Meanwhile, liberals enjoyed mocking the conservative outrage:

 

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr and a CC License