Congress gives final approval to Keystone XL pipeline bill, setting up veto showdown

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Sen. Joe Manchin on the Keystone pipeline fight

Congressman discusses the president's possible veto

The House gave final congressional approval Wednesday to legislation to complete the Keystone XL oil pipeline -- setting up the first veto showdown between President Obama and the new, Republican-controlled Congress.

The 270-to-152 vote showed broad bipartisan support for the legislation, but not enough to reach the two-thirds majority, or 281 votes, needed to override a presidential veto.

Obama is vowing to veto the bill if delivered to him before all of the pending studies and court cases are completed.

"As we have made clear, the president will veto this bill," a White House official told Fox News Wednesday night.

The House and Senate may formally prepare the bill on Friday, but one senior Senate Republican source told Fox News that the party doesn't expect to send the bill to the White House for another two weeks. The reason for the possible delay would be to ensure that Congress is in session when Obama likely vetoes the bill.

Michigan Rep. Justin Amash was the only House Republican who voted against the measure.

The bill passed in the GOP-led House earlier this year, then passed in the Senate, before returning to the lower chamber Wednesday for a final vote to fix minor discrepancies in the separate versions.

The bill also failed to get the requisite two-thirds vote needed to override a veto in the Senate.

“Mr. President, sign this bill into law,” Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., said before the vote.

Though the bill has bipartisan support, Republican largely championed its passage, arguing the Canada-to-Gulf Coast refineries pipeline will create hundreds of new jobs and make the United States less depend on foreign oil.

Critics argue about the environmental impact of drilling for the oil in Canada’s tar sands and sending it across the heartland.

The vote caps weeks of debate on a top priority for Congress after the GOP took control last month. Supporters are already planning on using other means to secure approval for the pipeline, first proposed in 2008.

Fox News' Kelly Chernenkoff, Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.