Act 1 of the Keystone Kabuki was played in the Senate, where it was revealed not as a Democratic cave but as a Republican preference for talking points over an actual pipeline approval. (The Senate bill requires a fast decision on the pending Keystone XL pipeline, but doesn't require the decision to be "yes"; the State Department has already said that if forced to make a a fast decision, it would decide "no.")
Act 2 was supposed to be played out behind closed conference doors. H.Res. 501, the House resolution passed yesterday, called for both a swift approval of the Keystone XL pipeline - not a decision, but approval - and, as an extra bonus, repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency's Boiler MACT (Maximum Achievable Control Technology) rule mandating strict curbs on boilers and incinerators. (Technically, the bill calls for rewriting the Boiler MACT rule in a fashion that industry can accept, i.e., toothless. The Boiler MACT rule, proposed on December 2, will provide $27 billion in health benefits by 2015.)
In other words: a House-Senate conference would negotiate both the Keystone XL pipeline's approval and a significant weakening of the Boiler MACT rules - preferably behind closed doors while the American people are too busy enjoying their holidays to notice that their leaders have sold them out again.
But a not-so-funny thing is happening: so far, the Senate isn't returning to conference. Instead, the House Republican leadership has created a payroll tax cut fiasco. H.Res. 501 is now exposed as a poison pill, poisoning the American public. We have a long intermission before Act 3 of Keystone Kabuki plays out, and it may well play out as the moment the GOP implodes.