Democrats Upset McConnell Allowed Votes On Their Amendments

24 Jan, 2015 by William Teach

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It just goes to show you, Democrats are never satisfied. It also goes to show that they always want more, like a kid given a cookie who demands more cookies

(Daily Caller)  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already allowed more votes on amendments to the Keystone XL pipeline bill than former leader Harry Reid allowed in all of 2014 — but Democrats complained when McConnell tried to wrap up the process late Thursday.

“McConnell has just slammed the door on ‘open’ process — killing six D amendments w/o debate,” Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley tweeted.

Sen. Dick Durbin, who had praised McConnell earlier that same day for leading an open debate, said the move was not “in the best interest” of the Senate. Under Harry Reid’s leadership in 2014, Durbin won votes on just two amendments, compared to four in just a few weeks of McConnell’s Senate.

After holding votes on 10 amendments to the bill Thursday — five from Democrats and five from Republicans – McConnell wanted to hold a series of votes on additional amendments Thursday night. But Democrats did not want to vote on their amendments, saying they wanted more time to consider them before voting.

At that point, McConnell shut down the votes, and offered to allow votes on Friday. Dems whined, and now McConnell has moved the votes to Monday.

“They were sort of up in arms that they were allowed to have votes on their amendments,” Heritage Action spokesman Dan Holler told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “It was just a bizarre thing to watch.”

Again, McConnell has allowed in just a few days more amendment votes than Harry Reid (D) allowed in all of 2014. Harry Reid was not impressed with this, of course.

His spokesperson told TheDCNF the votes are nothing to be proud of. ”McConnell has reached this number by forcing senators to vote on amendments they haven’t been given time to read and research, and by shutting down debate on the Senate floor,” Jentleson said.

Hey, remember all that time we had to read the Stimulus and Obamacare bills? Many of the amendments are very short, and, they are getting votes. Democrats, though, are like teenagers in perpetual outrage.

The final vote on Keystone XL will occur next week.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.