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The third-ranking Senate Democrat predicted Sunday that his caucus could sustain a presidential veto of a bill to authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats plan to introduce amendments to the Republican-backed bill in the new Congress. But even so, he plans to oppose it.

"These amendments will make it better but certainly not good enough at this point in time, and I think there will be enough Democratic votes to sustain the presidents veto," he said.

Republicans are set to take control of the Senate when the new Congress is sworn in this week. The soon-to-be majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), announced last month that passing a Keystone bill would be an immediate priority.

Environmental groups and many Democrats oppose the oil pipeline, which would run from Canadas oil sands to the Texas Gulf Coast. President Obama has raised doubts about its environmental effects.

If Obama were to veto the bill once it was passed by both the House and the Senate, two-thirds of the lawmakers in each chamber would have to override him for the bill to become law. Veto overrides have been very rare occurrences.

Republicans have billed the Keystone XL pipeline as a job creator. A State Department review concluded it would support about 42,000 direct and indirect jobs. Once built, the pipeline would support 50 jobs, according to the review.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Sen. John Thune (S.D.), who serves in Republican leadership, said the Keystone debate will test how far to the left Senate Democrats are leaning.

"We're going to find out whether or not there are moderate Democrats in the Senate," he said.

But Thune was uncertain about whether Republicans could override a presidential veto.

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Schumer predicts Democrats could sustain Keystone veto

Senate Democrats will introduce a series of amendments countering the GOP push to pass legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline, Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Sunday.

The amendments are unlikely to change the ultimate outcome of the bill, which is expected to pass and face a potential veto from President Barack Obama. But the Democratic strategy will add more political tension to whats expected to be a partisan showdown between Mr. Obama and Republicans pushing to approve the pipeline as their first item of business this upcoming Congress.

Democrats will introduce at least three amendments that would make the Keystone measure more of a jobs bill, Mr. Schumer, the fourth-most-senior Democrat in the upper chamber, said Sunday on CBS 's Face The Nation.

The amendments will require the steel used in the pipeline to be made in the U.S., ban exports of oil shipped through the pipeline and add financial incentives for renewable energy, Mr. Schumer said. With Republicans now controlling 54 seats, these amendments are unlikely to pass.

Mr. Schumer said he would still oppose the measure even if those amendments did pass. He also predicted Mr. Obama would veto the bill, a likely outcome given the presidents increasingly negative takeon the project, which has been under review with his administration for more than six years.

I think there will be enough Democratic votes to sustain the presidents veto, Mr. Schumer said.

The Senate in November defeated similar legislationapproving the pipeline, coming up one Democratic vote short. The bill is expected to garner some Democratic support, including those from energy-rich states like Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, helping Republicans get the 60 votes needed for passage. Most unofficial whip counts say Republicans are a few votes shy of the 67 votes needed to overcome a veto.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Sen. John Thune (R, S.D.), expressed cautious hope that the Senate could get the 67 votes needed to override a presidential veto depending on how much Democratic support there is.

Were going to find out whether there are moderate Democrats in the Senate, Mr. Thune said.

The measures Mr. Schumer cited Sunday are among whats likely to be numerous amendments offered during both the committee and floor debates on the Keystone bill. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing on the bill Wednesday and plans to vote Thursday. The floor debate is expected to occur soon after that.

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Democrats to Push Clean Energy, Export Limits in Keystone XL Pipeline Bill

Louie Gohmert: Democrats Are #39;The Party Of No #39;
GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert said President Barack Obama #39;s admission that he relied on Harry Reid to block unfavorable legislation from the Republican-led House me...

By: Secular Talk

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Louie Gohmert: Democrats Are 'The Party Of No' - Video

Returning to Washington with fewer numbers and increased doubt about their direction in the new Congress, Democrats are pushing President Obama to pursue a more aggressive economic agenda that lays the groundwork for a political rebound in 2016 by focusing sharply on helping the middle class.

In interviews and public speeches since voters delivered an electoral gut-check in November, Democrats have offered a range of ideas for how the president should approach his final two years in office, ranging from specific policy proposals to suggestions for changing the way he works with both parties in Congress.

Democrats worry they lost ground to Republicans due to the absence of a clear economic message that balances claiming credit for progress since the 2008 recession with a call to expand benefits for middle-class families that still need help. Many lawmakers have concluded the presidential bully pulpit will be critical in framing the debate.

"In the minds of a lot of voters, economic fairness and the Democratic brand have in some ways separated, which is really tragic because that really is what we stand for," said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), co-chairman of the House Progressive Caucus. "The president can help rebuild that brand."

Democrats acknowledge the need for Obama to show he can work with Congress' new Republican majorities, be it on tax reform, trade or the push to improve infrastructure that appears to be gaining steam.

But many, particularly those in the more progressive wing on the party, say the president needs to fiercely stand his ground on party priorities such as energy, healthcare and Wall Street reform.

"I think he knows where to draw the lines and he will," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). "He'll have plenty of support here to do it."

Democrats hope the president will craft a more consistent and disciplined economic message than he did last year, when political pressures from the midterm election and a series of unexpected crises at home and abroad posed constant distractions.

"I think he really has to decide what's most important to him and the country, and then he's got to work very hard to put an edge on those issues," said George Miller, the just-retired veteran Democratic congressman from Martinez. "You can't just do that with a single speech. You can't just do that with a meeting or having a group of people to the White House. Every day you've got to put your long pants on and go to work."

Obama's relationship with his congressional allies has always been complicated, whether Democrats enjoyed significant majorities, as they did at the start of his first term, or after Republicans took over the House in the 2010 election.

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Congressional Democrats have a list of resolutions for Obama

The death of former New York governor Mario Cuomo Thursday triggered an immediate and laudatory recollection from Democrats of his fiercely delivered 1984 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, with many party figures calling the address a touchstone moment that reinvigorated weary liberals during the Reagan years.

On social media, hundreds of stunned Cuomo admirers quickly shared a YouTube video of the speech upon learning of his passing, including Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Obama, who wrote in a Twitter message, the speech is in my top five of all time.

Also on Twitter, Keith Boykin, a former aide in the Clinton White House, called it one of the best political speeches ever delivered.

Cuomos speech, given on a July night at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, was originally crafted as a response to Ronald Reagans frequent and cheery description of the United States as a shining city on a hill. Cuomo took that image and turned it, urging Reagan to look closer at the countrys condition.

This nation is more a tale of two cities than it is just a shining city on a hill, Cuomo said. There is despair, Mr. President, in the faces you dont see, in the places you dont visit in your shining city.

The late former New York governor gave a keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention that launched him into the spotlight. (CSPAN)

In the decades since, the speech has become a beloved text in Democratic politics, cited as an electric example of liberal vigor and hope, months before Democrat Walter F. Mondale would go on to lose to Reagan in a landslide and eight years before Bill Clinton would win the presidency.

On Twitter Thursday evening, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of the Nation, a liberal magazine, described the speech as prescient.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), in a statement, heaped praised on Cuomos soaring oratory that stirred the very soul.

The approximately eight-minute speech was also the culmination of the political pitch Cuomo had been honing in the years before, and adhered to his long-held belief that lyrical persuasion was critical to politics, as much as the policies. At its core, there was a strong emphasis on the need for government, at both a state and federal level, to operate as a family, with care and compassion for those whose were in need.

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Cuomos 1984 speech stirred Democrats, then and for decades