GOP leader warns of Friday Keystone votes

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says the Senate might hold rare Friday votes to move the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, which the new GOP majority has made its first 2015 priority.

McConnell vowed to keep the Senate working later hours and more days per week as leader, but there has been lingering skepticism about whether he would follow through.

The GOP leader has alerted his colleagues that they might have to show up on the floor for Friday votes, which have been a rarity in the Senate in recent years.

{mosads}“Senators should expect votes on pending amendments to the bill after lunch today. Votes are possible into the evening tonight as well as during tomorrow morning’s session,” McConnell said. “We need to make progress on this bill, and all members should expect a busy day.”

He expressed satisfaction over the course of the previous day’s debate, when Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee and a skeptic of man’s impact on the climate, unexpectedly co-sponsored a Democratic amendment stating climate change is real and not a hoax.

Inhofe explained his apparent flip by arguing that, while there is plenty of evidence the climate is changing, there’s no proof that man’s causing it. After Republicans joined Democrats in passing the “hoax” provision, they blocked two other amendments stating that human activity contributes to climate change.

“We saw how democracy in the Senate has looked many times in the past. It’s great to see both sides able to offer amendments once more,” McConnell said.

The GOP leader noted that Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), a centrist Democrat and potential GOP ally on a range of issues, said he was “very excited about the prospect of an open amendment process.”