◼ Keystone XL amendments had senators doing the unusual: voting ... a lot - Lisa Mascaro/LA Times via LA Times Facebook
Something unusual happened in Congress this week: Senators voted — not just once or twice, but more than 20 times, right up until midnight Thursday.
In contrast to the recent years of gridlock and paralysis, senators took vote after politically tough vote as they worked their way through amendments to a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
It was part of the so-called regular order that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to deliver after Republicans took control of the chamber earlier this month. The Kentucky Republican promised to restore a more open process that many senators hungered for after Democrats ran the place with a tight grip during the previous eight years.... KEEP READING
