The new, freewheeling Senate of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell presided over an agitated debate on the Keystone XL pipeline that churned into Friday’s wee hours and ended with aggrieved Democrats crying Koch.

Around midnight, a seemingly endless series of amendment votes and quorum calls shifted as McConnell moved to end debate on a bill that would yank President Barack Obama’s authority over the proposed oil pipeline — after quickly disposing of five Democratic amendments.


Blindsided Democrats accused the Kentucky Republican of shutting down a Senate that he had promised to run in a more open way than their own leaders did. They also wondered aloud if Republicans were trying to wrap up all Keystone business to accommodate a conference scheduled for this weekend in Palm Springs, Calif., that’s affiliated with the billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch.

“Senator McConnell’s rush to vote on amendments without providing time to read or debate them could have something to do with this Koch retreat tomorrow, which a number of Republican senators are reportedly attending…,” Adam Jentleson, spokesman for Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said by email.

Jentleson and several other Democratic aides suggested that McConnell might have acted to let the Senate GOP’s trio of expected White House hopefuls, Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, make their way to the conference.

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart countered that the GOP had offered to hold a series of Keystone votes on Friday but that Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois had objected.

Throughout the frantic nighttime series of votes to table Democratic amendments, the minority party slammed McConnell for obstructing their proposals by blocking a straight up-or-down decision. “McConnell has just slammed the door on ‘open’ process,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) tweeted.

Meanwhile, the GOP hailed a Senate that already has voted on more amendments in less than one month of 2015 than it had in all of 2014.

Beyond the Koch-tinged recriminations is a partisan spat that could set the tone for the rest of McConnell’s first year helming the Senate. The new majority leader’s vow to hold open debate on Keystone has at times put his own members in politically perilous situations – such as a Wednesday vote on accepting humans’ role in climate change that fell just one senator short – yet Republicans have offered nothing but praise so far for the change.

“After yrs [sic] of dysfunction, it’s good to see us finally getting to work, having open debate … And allowing senators from both sides the chance to offer ideas and shape policy,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) tweeted Thursday.

Democrats continued to cry foul, however, late into the night Thursday. One Senate Democratic aide lamented that “it’s just a little ridiculous now that, after talking for years about needing time to read legislative language,” McConnell would move through amendments that Democrats asked for more time to consider.

The Senate is set to finish work on six remaining amendments to the Keystone bill starting on Monday, with a final passage vote on the legislation before the end of next week. It’s all but certain to draw a veto from Obama that Republicans right now lack the votes to override.

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