Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) plans to introduce an amendment to the Keystone XL pipeline bill that would force Republican senators to go on the record about whether they think climate change is real and manmade, the New York Times reported Monday.
Sanders already floated the resolution last week when the Keystone legislation was in the Energy Committee, where it was tabled. The resolution’s language states that “climate change is real; climate change is caused by human activities; climate change has already caused devastating problems in the United States and around the world.”
The resolution concludes by saying that “it is imperative that the United States transform its energy system away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and sustainable energy.” Sanders’s office told TPM that the language could still be revised before the amendment is filed on the floor.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has promised an “open amendment process” in the new Congress, which would suggest that the Sanders resolution might actually get a vote.
But Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) told Politico Monday that he had been “told by the powers that be” that the Sanders amendment would not be brought up for a vote.
Debate on the Keystone bill began Tuesday.
