The energy plan was stalled two years ago by a filibuster, but senators on Friday endorsed the energy policy, 74 to 26.
No other senators endorsed the plan.
The proposal is more stringent than an industry-backed plan that many other Republican senators had already endorsed.
Nineteen senators have endorsed a bill that would create a bipartisan commission to study Medicaid and issue recommendations in 14 months.
On Friday, senators endorsed it again, this time by a unanimous voice vote, and attached it to a revised military spending bill.
At least five Republican senators have already endorsed the effort to overturn the regulation.
Sixty senators, including every member of the Senate who saw combat in Vietnam, have endorsed a near-total ban.
The aide, Dan Gerstein, said that the senator had endorsed all the Democratic candidates for the House and still hoped they would win.
At least 47 senators and 170 House members have endorsed the legislation.
While senators of both parties endorsed these standards, they disagreed on questions of enforcement: Should the federal standards override existing state laws?