Mitch McConnell was full of promises last November about how things were going to be different in the Senate when he was in charge. Like how the Senate was going to start working on Fridays. That promise was
broken last Thursday, the first week of the session. The other thing the Senate was going to do under his watch—open amendments. Republicans had grumbled incessantly over the last six years about how Harry Reid was a dictator who refused to allow them to offer up their amendments, almost all of which were poison pills that had little or nothing to do with the underlying legislation. Well, the worm has turned with Republicans now in power, and McConnell
doesn't like it one bit. In fact, he's pretty whiny about it.
"Some of our colleagues on the other side continue to filibuster the motion to proceed to this bill. All senators should know that we will get on this bill today and begin the amendment process—either this afternoon by consent, or shortly after midnight without consent,” he said. […]
McConnell vowed he would not let Democrats use their ability to offer amendments to stretch out floor debates for weeks simply to burn up the calendar.
"We will conduct a fair and open amendment process but not an open-ended one," he said.
And so much for open amendments. That fair and open process apparently
won't include one proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) intended to put Republicans on the record about the connection between humans’ greenhouse gas emissions and global warming in the Keystone XL debate.
One of the Republicans facing reelection in 2016 who would face the most pressure on Sanders' climate amendment, Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, declined to say how he would vote because he was "told by the powers that be" that it would not get a vote on the floor.
But Sanders vowed to fight for floor time for his amendment with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has promised to adopt an open amendment process for the Keystone bill.
"Don’t tell me I'm being deceived" on the chance to offer amendments, he quipped when asked about Kirk's assessment of his odds. Republicans, Sanders added, would "pay a price" for ducking a vote on his proposal.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, there are no votes scheduled on anything, including Keystone XL amendments, on Friday.
