The Senate has convened and has resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 1, a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, with the time until 5:30pm equally divided.
At 5:30pm today, there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the Keystone pipeline bill. If cloture is invoked, there would be up to 30 hours of post-cloture debate. If all time is used, the post-cloture debate time would expire at approximately midnight Tuesday night. Once the motion to proceed is adopted, the bill would be open to amendments. Senator McConnell urged senators who would like to offer amendments to the Keystone bill to reach out to the bill managers, Senators Murkowski and Cantwell.
A few scheduling notes:
- The Senate will not be in session this Wednesday and Thursday (January 14th and 15th) in order to accommodate the Democratic and Republican caucus retreats.
- Senator McConnell announced there will be no roll call votes this Friday, January 16th,, but the Senate will be in session working on the Keystone bill.
- Next Monday, January 19th is a federal holiday, Martin Luther King Day.
- Next Tuesday, January 20th, the President will deliver the State of the Union Address in the Hall of the House of Representatives at 9:00pm.