A vote on the Keystone XL oil pipeline will be the first item on the agenda in the new GOP-controlled Congress says Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso.
"It is going to be a bellwether decision by the president whether to go with jobs and the economy," Barrasso said Sunday on "Meet the Press." "He's going to have to decide between jobs and the extreme supporters of not having the pipeline."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, has voted against Keystone in the past, but said she doesn't oppose the plan. She just believes President Barack Obama should make the decision rather than Congress.
Barrasso said a bipartisan bill will be passed to repeal Obamacare as well, but he expects Obama to veto it. Republicans also plan to bring Democrats on board to repeal individual parts of the Affordable Care Act, including ending the tax on medical devices, the employer mandate, and re-installing the 40-hour work week.
"The costs are crippling the middle class," Barrasso said.
Asked about whether Rep. Steve Scalise should remain in House leadership after it was revealed last week he spoke to a racist group in 2002, Barrasso called the speech a "grave mistake."
But he also noted that even black Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Democrat from the neighboring district to Scalise, said that Scalise doesn't have "a racist bone in his body."
"I'm going to stick with that," Barrasso said.
Klobuchar suggested that Republicans could back up their condemnation of racism by approving Loretta Lynch as attorney general. The nominee would be the first black woman to hold the position.
Barrasso said the Lynch hearings are likely to focus on whether she supports Obama's actions on executive amnesty.
"Is she going to be the people's attorney? Is she going to be the presidential protector?" Barrasso said.
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