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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