Legislation to immediately approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline passed in the House of Representatives on Friday.
The legislation, which passed by a vote of 252 to 161, was introduced by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R., La.).
Cassidy will face Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.) in a runoff election on Dec. 6. Landrieu is expected to to take the bill to the Senate, which has failed to vote on multiple bills passed by the House to expedite construction of the pipeline.
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said in a statement following the passage of the bill that it is time for the Senate and President Barack Obama to get out of the way of the pipeline.
"Thousands more Americans would be working today if President Obama had put their priorities ahead of his political interests and approved the Keystone pipeline," said Boehner. "The House has voted numerous times to end the Obama administration’s needless delays, only to see those bills blocked by the outgoing Democratic majority in the Senate."
"The president doesn’t have any more elections to win, and he has no other excuse for standing in the way," he added.
"It’s time he start listening to the vast majority of Americans who support Keystone and help get more people back to work."
The Washington Examiner reports that Landrieu's attempt to get the bill to a vote in the Senate is likely to fall one vote short of the 60 needed.