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Swift Senate approval of legislation to expedite the Keystone XL pipeline ran into trouble Monday after Democrats temporarily blocked the measure.

In the first notable test of Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell's leadership, key Democratic senators said they were protesting what they viewed as the majority leader's strong-arm tactics in bringing the three-week congressional debate over the pipeline to an end.

These Democrats support the pipeline. Their votes were needed to overcome a filibuster from other Democrats, but several withheld their support Monday to protest McConnell's tactics.

The vote was 53 to 39, shy of the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the measure. Four Democrats supported the legislation, but several others who had supported it as recently as last fall voted no. A subsequent vote also failed by the same margin. The Republican leader switched his vote to no in a procedural move that will allow him bring the bill back for a do-over vote in the days ahead.

The setback may be temporary. The pipeline's chief backers suggested that cooler heads would prevail and that another vote would be attempted after Democrats got the chance to vent their frustrations with the Republican leader.

This is really disappointing, McConnell, of Kentucky, said before the vote. It's about time to bring the Keystone debate to a positive conclusion, and we'll do that soon.

The episode was an embarrassing setback for the new majority leader, who has made passage of the Keystone bill a top priority of the new Republican-led Congress.

Complicating matters was the absence of key Republican senators, including Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who was making a campaign fundraising swing through California as a potential presidential contender.

The maneuver provides an early example of how the Democrats intend to use their minority status in Congress to force Republicans to the negotiating table or to derail GOP bills.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, indicated that Democratic objections were no surprise, saying some in the party wanted to slow-roll the thing all throughout. She vowed to work across the aisle to reach an agreement with Democrats to vote on more of their amendments before bringing discussion to a close.

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Democrats block Keystone bill in setback for Senate Republicans

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., announces he will vote to pass the health care reform bill after President Obama agreed to sign an executive order reaffirming the ban on the use of federal funds to provide abortions, March 21, 2010. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., announces he will vote to pass the health care reform bill after President Obama agreed to sign an executive order reaffirming the ban on the use of federal funds to provide abortions, March 21, 2010.

This week, Congress returns with House leaders vowing to revisit the anti-abortion bill they pulled off the floor last week. The ban on abortions after 20 weeks was withdrawn when it appeared there weren't enough Republican votes to pass it.

Why did it need quite so many Republican votes? Because the GOP can no longer count on a contingent of Democrats to help out on abortion-related votes.

That was obvious last week, on Thursday, when the leaders brought out a backup bill relating to federal funding for abortion (which is already illegal). It was the 42nd anniversary of the abortion-permitting Roe v. Wade decision, and it looked bad not to mark the occasion.

The backup bill did pass, but it had to do so with only three Democrats supporting it out of the current 188 in the House. And that speaks volumes about how the House has changed since President Obama was inaugurated.

When Obama took office, there were scores of Democrats in Congress who were anti-abortion and who regularly voted with the Republicans on abortion-related matters especially abortion funding.

The most visible example in recent years came on Nov. 7, 2009, during floor consideration of the bill that would become the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (better known as Obamacare).

The Democrats' anti-abortion faction then was led by Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak. After weeks of negotiating with House leaders and the White House, Stupak still insisted on a separate roll call vote regarding the impact the bill would have on abortion. He wanted it to be explicit that nothing in the new law would pay for abortions or pay for health insurance plans that covered abortions.

It was a sticky issue, and if not resolved it threatened to deny the House leaders and the Obama administration the health care law that was within their grasp.

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Abortion Vote Shows How Much Democrats' World Has Changed

Democrats successfully blocked the Keystone XL pipeline Monday, launching a filibuster in the Senate that keeps the long-delayed project on ice for at least the near term while Republicans try to figure out whether they can revive the bill.

We hit our first little bump in the road back to regular order, but weve got to roll with some things, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who was in charge of shepherding the bill through the chamber.

Democratic leaders, who oppose the pipeline, nonetheless said they were filibustering in order to continue the debate and to earn the chance to vote on more amendments to the bill.

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They accused Republicans of trying to shut down debate too quickly and said the two weeks the Senate devoted to the issue werent enough. The Senate has voted on two dozen amendments more than the chamber considered in all of 2014, when it was under Democratic control.

Still, Democratic leaders said Republicans should be held to the standard set by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, who pledged to allow a more freewheeling process.

Trying to muzzle the debate by refusing to allow Democrats even one minute to advocate for their amendment and then simply refusing to hold votes on dozens of other amendments is not a remotely open process, said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. Democrats are seeking to improve this bill for middle-class families, while Republicans are working to preserve it as a special interest giveaway to foreign oil and foreign steel companies.

Republicans fell six votes shy of the 60 needed to end the filibuster. Four Republicans and two Democrats who were co-sponsors of the Keystone bill were absent. If these senators had been present, the vote might have passed.

Three other Democrats Sens. Thomas R. Carper of Delaware, Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana who voted for the Keystone pipeline two months ago reversed themselves and voted to filibuster it Monday.

The Keystone pipeline would carry oil from Canadas tar sands to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. But the project has taken on a symbolism far outstripping its economic or environmental impact.

Excerpt from:
Democrats filibuster Keystone, force Republicans to rethink strategy, amendments

Democrats are renewing a public battle over the intent of a special House committee's probe of the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi consulate attack, saying Republicans have intentionally excluded them from witness interviews and other key aspects of the investigation.

In a letter sent Friday to the Benghazi committee's chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), top Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland also cited two instances in which the committee dismissed testimony from witnesses interviewed only by Republicans that contradicted allegations made by Republican members in public over the State Department's cooperation with an independent review of the attack.

Cummings asked Gowdy to delay a planned public hearing set for Tuesday until both parties agree on a formal set of rules to govern the investigation, including guaranteeing that any witness interviews are conducted jointly by both parties and that any decisions to subpoena further witnesses and documents can be debated publicly.

Cummings said the panel should mirror the example of the House Intelligence Committee instead of the House Oversight Committee, previously led by Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Vista), which he accused of manipulating testimony "to promote false political narratives."

"In order for this committee to transcend politics,' as you put it, we must break significantly from [that] model," Cummings wrote. "We should work together to go where the facts take us, and we should hold joint meetings, interviews and discussions with potential witnesses."

Republicans are dismissing the Democrats' complaints as simply picking a fight over process where they lack a substantive case to end the investigation.

In a statement, Gowdy spokesman Jamal Ware said there was no precedent in similar investigatory committees for a requirement that both parties interview witnesses at the same time, and that Republicans "will talk to Benghazi sources with or without the Democrats present just as they are welcome to talk to sources with or without Republicans present."

Chairman Gowdy has operated the Benghazi Committee in a more-than-fair and fact-based manner, Ware said, adding that Gowdy has offered to establish rules that are much more generous than those that govern other congressional committees. He will continue to work to address any legitimate minority concerns. He will not, however, allow the committees investigation to be hamstrung by politics.

House Speaker John A. Boehner called for a special select committee to be formed on the Benghazi attacks last May, accusing the White House of withholding documents from other congressional panels in what he called a "flagrant violation of trust." He later dismissed an Intelligence Committee report that found no wrongdoing by administration officials, saying that it was the Select Committee that would produce the "definitive" report. The House voted to continue the investigation in the new Congress as part of a larger package of rules approved on the first day of the 2015 session.

Democrats had debated whether to participate in the panel at all, initially seeking commitment on ground rules before doing so but ultimately agreeing to appoint members to act as a watchdog. Subsequent attempts to reach an agreement over rules, which included a meeting with Boehner in December, have failed.

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As House Benghazi committee reconvenes, Democrats renew complaints

This post has been updated

Senate Democrats stalled the Republican-led push to construct the Keystone XL Pipeline on Monday, dealing the first significant blow to the new Republican majority less than three weeks after being sworn in.

The outcome handed at least a temporary victory to some Democrats and environmentalists, who staunchly oppose construction of the pipeline. But Mondays vote was more a speed bump than a roadblock; both parties are expected to continue hashing out their differences on the bill.

The measure fell short of attaining the 60 votes needed to proceed to final passage under Senate rules. Fifty-three senators voted to move to a final vote on the oil pipeline, which would run from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, while 39 voted against it.

The vote fell mostly along party lines. While a handful of centrist Democrats crossed over to vote with the GOP, others withheld their support in protest against Republican leaders, who they say unfairly ended consideration of proposed amendments last week.

Eight senators were absent from the vote, including Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who was recovering from eye surgery; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is on a fundraising swing as he weighs a White House run; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was traveling to Saudi Arabia to pay respects to late King Abdullah.

President Obama has said he will veto the bill if it gets to his desk. But now, its unclear how soon it could reach him, as both parties must continue negotiating in order to advance the bill.

If Republicans arent able to move forward on the bill by the end of the week, it could put the GOP push to construct the pipeline in serious jeopardy.

While Republicans have pitched the plan as a job-creator, Democrats have warned of adverse environmental effects and repeatedly cited a State Department report indicating the pipeline would create only 35 permanent jobs.

Most McDonalds franchises offer more jobs, said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), the second-ranking Democrat. He repeatedly called Keystone XL a Canadian pipeline.

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Democrats stall Keystone bill in Senate, dealing blow to GOP