WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor urging final passage of the Keystone XL Pipeline Act:

“The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. But the Keystone jobs debate has been important for the Senate and for our country.

“We took about a dozen more roll-call votes on amendments yesterday. That means the Senate has now taken more than twice as many of these amendment votes on this bill alone than were allowed all of last year.

“We obviously had a busy afternoon yesterday and will again today. It has been an instructive exercise too.

“Because we learned about more than just the lesser prairie chicken. We also discovered something about this body.

“We learned that open floor debates and open amendment processes require hard work, they require dedicated members, and they require constructive cooperation from across the aisle.

“I’ve thanked Senators Hoeven and Murkowski for their work before. I’m thanking them again now. I also want to note the efforts, once again, of colleagues like Senator Cantwell.

“The debate over these American jobs has shown that, with bipartisan cooperation, it’s possible to get Washington functioning again. This debate is also proving that the new Congress is ready to work hard for the middle class — even in the teeth of opposition from powerful special interests.

“Let’s notch one more win for the middle class by passing this important infrastructure project.

“Constructing Keystone would pump billions into our economy. It would support thousands of good American jobs.

“And as the President’s own State Department has indicated, it would do this with minimal environmental impact.

“The Keystone infrastructure project has been studied endlessly, from almost every possible angle, and the same general conclusion keeps becoming clear: build it.

“So let’s make some progress for the American people by voting to pass the Keystone jobs and infrastructure bill.”