Keystone debate is a sign of progress

Late last month, the U.S. Senate voted to approve the siting of the Keystone pipeline by a vote of 62-36. This vote will ultimately have little impact on the project’s future as President Barack Obama has promised to veto the legislation. Nevertheless, the process by which the Senate considered this highly partisan issue was truly remarkable.

Over three weeks, the Senate debated and voted on 41 amendments — nearly three times as many amendments as were considered during all of 2014. Moreover, the process was cordial, occasionally intense and at times even suspenseful. While covering a wide variety of topics, the amendments were all substantive and reasonably related to the topic of the proposed legislation.

Votes were taken on delaying the effective date of the pipeline; requiring campaign finance disclosures for those benefiting from tar sands development; and removing the lesser prairie chicken from the threatened species list. Several amendments were adopted including bipartisan legislation to accelerate energy efficiency and a widely supported resolution acknowledging that climate change is real and not a hoax.

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