By Niels Lesniewski and JM Rieger

The incoming Senate majority leader is putting approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project first on his 2015 agenda, telling reporters Tuesday a bill sponsored by Republican John Hoeven of North Dakota would lead off the floor schedule. “We’ll be starting next year with a job-creating bill that enjoys significant bipartisan support,” McConnell said of the pipeline legislation. “It will be open for amendment. We’ll hope that senators on both sides will offer energy-related amendments, but there will be no effort to try to … micromanage the amendment process.”