WASHINGTON — Wielding the weapon of his pen, President Obama this week is expected to formally reject a Republican attempt to force construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. But in stopping for now the transit of up to 800,000 barrels of petroleum a day from the forests of Alberta to the Gulf Coast, Mr. Obama will be opening the veto era of his presidency.
The expected Keystone veto, the third and most significant of Mr. Obama’s six years in office, would likely be followed by presidential vetoes of bills that would make changes in the Affordable Care Act, impose new sanctions on Iran and roll back child nutrition standards, among others.
For Mr. Obama, his Cross Townsend black roller ball pen will become an extension of his second-term strategy to act alone in the face of Republican opposition and safeguard his legislative record.
“It’s a new period of his administration,” said James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington. “He will use the veto to protect his past record and not allow things he disagrees with to go forward.”
Representative David E. Price, a North Carolina Democrat, said Mr. Obama had little choice: “I don’t think, in this divided government, there’s much doubt he will have to use it.”
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The conservative “super PAC” Americans for Prosperity, which is partially funded by the billionaire libertarian brothers Charles and David Koch, has already launched a media campaign criticizing the expected veto.
Bill Hoagland, a senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, said both parties needed to work together to avoid repeated clashes that end with a veto pen. A wave of vetoes, he said, served no one.
“To avoid just vetoing everything and becoming the president of no,” Mr. Hoagland said, “he’s going to have to work with Congress, and they are going to have to work with him.”
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