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U.S. Senate Democrats made the opening move in their effort to portray Republicans as out of step with mainstream Americans on the question of whether humans cause climate change.

Democrats maneuvered a vote on an amendment Wednesday that would designate climate change as a man-made event. Although the amendment was defeated, Republicans were forced to take a stand on the issue before the 2016 campaign begins.

The vote was intended to help determine who the climate-change deniers in the U.S. Senate really are, third-ranking Democrat Charles Schumer of New York said a day before the vote. Do they deny that human activity has helped create climate change? Stay tuned -- well see.

A Global Push to Save the Planet

The Senate, by a 50-49 vote with 60 required, rejected the amendment to a Republican bill approving TransCanada Corp. (TRP)s Keystone XL oil pipeline. Republicans control the Senate 54-46.

The amendment, offered by Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, would have deemed that climate change is real and that human activity significantly contributes to it.

South Dakota Senator John Thune, the chambers third-ranking Republican, said the proposal had political undertones.

Obviously, its a very politically motivated vote, he said. They would love to get a bunch of Republicans voting against those amendments.

Five Republicans voted in favor of Schatzs amendment -- Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mark Kirk of Illinois. No Democrats voted against it.

Ten additional Republicans also voted for a separate proposal that said human activities contribute to climate change, though it didnt call the contribution significant.

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Senate Democrats Play Offense on Climate Change Ahead of 2016