The vote caps a week of quick moves by the new Republican majority to put its stamp on the 114th Congress. All of the House Republicans from Missouri and Illinois voted for the pipeline, but Missouri’s two Democratic representatives, Lacy Clay of University City and Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City, voted against the measure.

The House vote came within hours of a ruling by the Nebraska Supreme Court, which struck down a lawsuit brought by landowners who challenged the pipeline’s route through that state. The Obama administration had pointed to the Nebraska case, in part, for its continued delay in in granting TransCanada’s permit application for the pipeline’s construction.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., says that with the Nebraska court’s ruling, “President Obama is out of excuses. It’s time to approve this common-sense job-creating infrastructure project and put Americans back to work.”

Cleaver has called the legislation a “special interest earmark for TransCanada,” the Canadian company seeking a presidential permit to build the pipeline. Cleaver said that the “worst abuse” in the bill is that it “exempts TransCanada from paying into the Oil Spill Liability Fund, which helps the government from responding to oil spills.” Federal regulations require U.S. companies to pay into that fund.