The U.S. Senate failed on Wednesday to muster up enough votes to override President Barack Obama's veto of a bill that would have authorized the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Republicans needed to retain 67 votes to gain a super-majority and override the presidential veto. Instead, they fell short by five votes in the 62-37 vote, reports Reuters.

Nevertheless, Keystone supporters vowed to continue to fight to complete the project, while North Dakota GOP Sen. John Hoeven said that the GOP plans to attach the Keystone measure to other legislation later this year.

"If we don't win this battle today, we'll attach [the legislation] to another bill and win the war," said Hoeven, a major sponsor of the bill, before the vote, according to Fox News.

After the vote, GOP Sen. Dan Coats blasted the president and Obama for voting against the bill.

"The Senate's failure to override President Obama's veto is a defeat for our economy and American workers," he said. "Obama and a majority of Senate Democrats have said no to creating new jobs and increasing our energy security. Despite support from the majority of Americans, this important pro-growth project remains in political paralysis," added the Indiana senator.

According to Republicans, the bill would create thousands of jobs for American workers and the majority of Americans support the Keystone project, which would run from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

"This project has been awaiting approval for more than 2,300 days. The Nebraska Supreme Court struck down the challenge against it, 58 percent of Americans said they support it, and a bipartisan majority in both chambers of Congress approved it," said Tennessee Rep. Diane Black earlier this month, reports CNN.

However, environmentalists point out that the pipeline would cause devastating damage to the environment and contribute to climate change. They also argue that it would bring heavy tar sands oil from Canada across the middle of the United Sates to a port on the Gulf of Mexico.

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