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ByDinaCappiello The Associated Press WASHINGTON Congress inched closer Friday to a possible showdown with President Barack Obama over the Keystone XL oil pipeline as the Republican- controlled House approved the project. Supporters in the Democratic-run Senate predicted they will get the 60 votes needed to pass it next week. The House vote was 252- 161 in favor of the bill, which was sponsored by Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., in an ef- fort to boost his chances to take a Louisiana Senate seat away from Democrat Mary Landrieu. The two are headed for a Dec. 6 runoff and have been touting their energy credentials in the oil and gas-producing state. Should the Senate send the bill to Obama for his signature, he would face a decision that pits some of his environmental concerns about the pipeline, mainly its consequences for global warming, against poten- tially helping a fellow Dem- ocrat making a longshot bid to retain her Senate seat. The House bill was sup- ported by 221 Republicans, with not a single GOP law- maker voting against it. Thirty-one Democrats backed the bill, while 161 rejected it. "This will make it easier for the Senate to do right by the American people and fi- nally vote on building the pipeline," Cassidy said in a statement after the vote. The bill's passage marked the ninth time the House had passed a bill to speed up the pipeline's construction. Landrieu pushed the Senate to hold its upcom- ing vote on the measure. In a call with reporters from Louisiana, where she was campaigning, Landrieu called herself the "spark- plug" to get the Keystone bill through Congress. The House bill is identical to one introduced by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Landrieu in May. As of Friday, supporters of the measure appeared to have at least 59 of the 60 Senate votes they would need for approval next week. That included all 45 Republi- cans and 14 Democrats. Landrieu conceded, though, that it is unlikely the Senate or House will have the two-thirds major- ities that would be needed to override an Obama veto of the bill. She said she did not know Obama's plans. "He most certainly un- derstands my position," Landrieu said. "He under- stands that there are 15- plus Democrats in the Sen- ate that really want to build the Keystone pipeline." If the bill fails to pass the Senate next week, Ho- even said he would reintro- duce it next year when Re- publicans will control the chamber. That would make it one of many showdowns expected with Obama over energy and environmental policy after Republicans take full control of Con- gress in January. The $8 billion pipeline has become a symbol for the divisions on the country's energy and environmental policy. Environmentalists have framed the issue as a significant test of Obama's commitment to address cli- mate change. Republicans and other supporters say it is necessary for jobs and energy security, because the U.S. would be importing oil from its neighbor, not the Middle East. POSSIBLE SHOWDOWN House sends Keystone pipeline bill to Senate J.SCOTTAPPLEWHITE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio strides from the House floor Friday a er the Republican-controlled House passed legislation approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline. By Philip Elliott The Associated Press WASHINGTON Newly sur- faced videos are adding fresh energy to the efforts of congressional conservatives to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, feeding into their conten- tions that the overhaul was approved through a scheme of deception. Some are calling anew for hearings on the law, which is about to begin its second year of coverage for millions of Americans. And activists are telling lawmakers to make good on their talk of scrapping the law or face defeat in the next elections. The videos show MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, an adviser in the law's draft- ing, saying that "the stupid- ity of the American voter" helped Democrats pass the complex legislation. "The Gruber clip has caught fire," says David Bozell, whose ForAmerica group campaigns against the health care law online. In one video, Gruber de- scribes what he depicts as the behind-the-scenes po- litical strategy of the law's supporters. At a 2013 Uni- versity of Pennsylvania pub- lic forum, he says Ameri- cans' lack of understand- ing helped Democrats pass the legislation. Other impolitic state- ments have continued to dribble out in which Gruber claims that the law was writ- ten to deceive federal budget watchdogs and mocks con- servatives' concerns over health care policy. He has since disavowed the most controversial re- marks, saying he "spoke in- appropriately and I regret having made those com- ments." Republicans, who made big gains during last week's midterm congressional elections, have stood uni- fied against the law they deride as "Obamacare," and they now point to Gruber's comments as yet another reason to dump it. They say the remarks show a cynical strategy by Democrats to camouflage the law's polit- ically unpalatable aspects and sneak them past an un- suspecting public. Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., is among those call- ing for hearings, perhaps in- cluding Gruber as a witness. "This is what we com- plained about when we fought it for all those months on the floor. No- body understood it," Mc- Cain said. Another advocate for scrapping the law, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, branded the measure "just a bundle of deception." The videos have put Democrats on the defen- sive. Traveling with Obama in Asia this week, White House press secretary Josh Earnest defended the health law and said he would "dis- agree vigorously" with Gru- ber's assessment. House Mi- nority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., instrumental in the law's passage, said she did not know Gruber — de- spite having cited his anal- ysis at least once in the past during an on-camera brief- ing with reporters. "He didn't help write our bill," she said this week. Both policy and politics are in play for the GOP. If congressional Republicans fail to push hard for repeal, they'll face angered activ- ists. As the head of one influ- ential conservative organi- zation met with activists in Georgia this week, the mere mention of Gruber's name drew jeers and brought peo- ple to their feet. "It certainly has lit a fire among the grass roots," said Heritage Action for America CEO Michael Needham. "All it does is confirms what everyone knows: I don't think anyone in this country thought this law was passed without ob- fuscation." "How can you put an- other red penny toward this program?" asks ForAmeri- ca's Bozell, "when the archi- tect of it says the only rea- son it passed is a lie?" Few others, however, would call Gruber the ar- chitect of the massive law. He was a paid outside con- sultant, hired to crunch numbers as the legislation was developed. Ironically, he was brought on board because of expertise he ac- quired in helping Republi- can Gov. Mitt Romney set up a health care expansion in Massachusetts. That plan became the basis for Obama's law. Many Republicans con- tend there was a lack of transparency when the leg- islation was being put to- gether. However, accord- ing to Democratic tallies, House lawmakers spent al- most 100 hours and the Sen- ate more than 160 in public hearings and debate on the measures, much of it tele- vised on C-SPAN. 'STUPIDITY OF THE AMERICAN VOTER' Videos provide new energy for repeal of health care law CHARLES KRUPA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Jonathan Gruber poses in his home in Lexington, Mass. By Stephen Ohlemacher The Associated Press WASHINGTON A small group of Social Security judges have improperly ap- proved disability claims for nearly 25,000 people who didn't qualify, costing tax- payers $2 billion over the past seven years, govern- ment investigators con- clude in a report being re- leased Monday. The price tag will grow by nearly $300 million next year because many of these people are still getting ben- efits, the report said. Social Security's office of inspector general is sched- uled to release a report on the judges Monday. The As- sociated Press obtained a copy Friday. Investigators examined cases decided by 44 judges who had been approving disability claims at unusu- ally high rates. The judges were labeled "outliers" be- cause they had approved 85 percent of the claims they had heard in at least two of the previous seven years. During these years, the judges decided at least 700 cases a year. The judges represent about 4 percent of the ad- ministrative law judges who decide disability claims for Social Security, the report said. "The Social Security Ad- ministration's failure to con- duct timely medical eligibil- ity reviews has resulted in rubber-stamped decisions that have and will continue to cost taxpayers billions in improper awards," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said in a statement. "In failing to take meaningful disci- plinary action at the Social Security Administration, even after the most egre- gious cases of mismanage- ment, taxpayers are left to wonder, who is looking af- ter their tax dollars?" Issa, who chairs the House Oversight Commit- tee, requested the inspec- tor general's investigation, along with Rep. James Lankford, R-Okla., who chairs one of the panel's subcommittees. The report said the Social Security Administration has improved oversight of judges in the past several years. Fif- teen of the 44 judges have been disciplined, including one who was let go when his or her contract expired. None of judges were identi- fied in the report. The Social Security Ad- ministration did not imme- diately respond to a request for comment. The report comes as So- cial Security's disability pro- gram edges toward the brink of insolvency. The trust fund that supports the disability program is projected to run out of money in 2016. At that point, the system will collect only enough money in pay- roll taxes to pay 80 percent of benefits, triggering an automatic 20 percent cut in benefits. Congress could redirect money from Social Secu- rity's much bigger retire- ment program to shore up the disability program, as it has several times in the past. 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