McConnell: Obama personally lobbying Senate Dems to oppose Keystone XL amendment

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) charged President Obama on Thursday of personally contacting Senate Democrats to ask them to oppose a pending amendment that would speed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

"It's incomprehensible to me that the president of the United States is lobbying against the Keystone amendment," said McConnell, speaking from the Senate floor on Thursday.

McConnell said he had read reports that Obama had called members of the Senate Democratic Conference asking them to oppose the Keystone amendment, which will likely face a vote in the upper chamber either later on Thursday or on Tuesday. 

“There’s a report … that President Obama is personally making phone calls to Democrat senators he thinks might vote for this amendment," McConnell continued. "He’s asking them not to and, frankly, it’s hard to even comprehend how out of touch he is on this issue."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also announced that the series of votes on up to 30 amendments would likely begin at around 2:15 p.m.