McConnell pressures Dems on Keystone

“Rep. James Clyburn said, ‘I’m very much for the pipeline. There is no question about that,’” McConnell said. “Sen. Claire McCaskill said, ‘If states’ rights are being protected and if this is going to be something maybe that we can try to jump start the approval process, make it go more quickly, [we should do it].’

“Both parties like it. The labor unions like it. Why in the world wouldn’t we want to put it in the package?”

The pipeline became a bargaining chip in end-of-the-year negotiations when House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) decided to attach it to a bill to extend President Obama’s payroll-tax cut. Since then, a spokesman for McConnell said he would not support a payroll-tax-cut extension package that did not encourage the approval of the Keystone XL project, and House Republicans have pledged to add it to any payroll-tax legislation they receive from the upper chamber. 

The Senate floor has lain dormant most of the day as furious negotiations take place behind the scenes. Morning business was extended to 7 p.m.