(1) Just six of them – Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Al Franken, Joe Manchin, Claire McCaskill and Vermont independent Bernie Sanders – voted against the procedural cloture motion that ended debate on the bill, though a total of 22 Democrats were against final passage.
(2) The Democrats need 60 votes to achieve "cloture" or avoid a filibuster, and that seems near-impossible.
(3) Passage of the compromise amendment is by no means guaranteed, with a number of those voting for the cloture motion still expected to vote against the bill itself.
(4) Reid will bring a so-called 'motion to proceed' vote on Wednesday followed by a 'cloture' vote to end debate on Friday or Saturday.
(5) Reid will bring a so-called motion to proceed vote on Wednesday followed by a cloture vote to end debate on Friday or Saturday.
(6) It turns out that the threat Reid acted on today was broader than the one defused in July: this one eliminates the 60-vote cloture threshold for executive and judicial nominees; the summer threat only dealt with executive nominees.
(7) After promising to bring the compromise to the floor, majority leader Mitch McConnell opted not to set up a normal cloture vote, choosing instead to use a procedural maneuver known as a “ motion to table ”, in which lawmakers were essentially voting to discard the bill.
(8) Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and longtime Freedom Act skeptic, brought herself to support the bill during the cloture motion for precisely that reason.
(9) In the end, the procedural motion, known as cloture, passed with the support of all 55 members of the Senate's Democratic caucus, who were joined by 12 of their Republican colleagues.
(10) Even if all four voted with Democrats for the USA Freedom Act, they would need 10 more Republicans to reach the 60 votes needed for cloture.
(11) The overall majority of 68 to 31 in favour of the so-called "cloture" motion to proceed to a gun vote comfortably cleared the 60-vote hurdle needed to prevent a filibuster – the tactic typically employed by Republicans, who are in minority in the Senate.
(12) Nevertheless, it is far from clear that there are enough Republican votes to reach cloture on the USA Freedom Act either.
(13) Two Democrats voted against the cloture vote: Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
(14) The Senate’s rules are notoriously complex and the vote last night was “on cloture on the motion to proceed”, which means it sought to limit debate on a motion to actually reconsider the bill.
(15) Thursday’s cloture vote – to bring debate to a close – happened in the middle of a jam-packed Senate schedule in advance of the Memorial Day recess.
(16) There would have to be a major change of heart from at least one Republican in order to avoid a filibuster or make cloture.
(17) Both cloture votes – on USA Freedom and the Patriot Act extension – could come as early as later on Thursday after an equally close-fought battle to pass trade “fast-track” legislation and few would predict which way they would now go.
(18) Despite attempts by Senator Rand Paul to separate the Syrian authorisation from the wider bill on the grounds that it deserved a separate debate, just 27 senators stood in the way of the cloture motion which allowed Obama to avoid a potentially embarrassing direct vote.
(19) However, this would still require Democrats to vote against the procedural “cloture” motion that is needed to bring debate to a close, and it was not yet clear on Tuesday morning whether all those reluctantly supporting the Iran deal would be prepared to do this and risk being accused of filibustering such an important vote.
(20) This is because cloture motions on both bills to bring debate to a close will take two days to complete, pushing final votes back until at least Saturday.
Debate
Definition:
(v. t.) To engage in combat for; to strive for.
(v. t.) To contend for in words or arguments; to strive to maintain by reasoning; to dispute; to contest; to discuss; to argue for and against.
(v. i.) To engage in strife or combat; to fight.
(v. i.) To contend in words; to dispute; hence, to deliberate; to consider; to discuss or examine different arguments in the mind; -- often followed by on or upon.
(v. t.) A fight or fighting; contest; strife.
(v. t.) Contention in words or arguments; discussion for the purpose of elucidating truth or influencing action; strife in argument; controversy; as, the debates in Parliament or in Congress.
(v. t.) Subject of discussion.
Example Sentences:
(1) In a debate in the House of Commons, I will ask Britain, the US and other allies to convert generalised offers of help into more practical support with greater air cover, military surveillance and helicopter back-up, to hunt down the terrorists who abducted the girls.
(2) In attacking the motion to freeze the licence fee during today's Parliamentary debate the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, criticised the Tory leader.
(3) Amid the acrimony of the failed debate on the Malaysia Agreement, something was missed or forgotten: many in the left had changed their mind.
(4) The first experiment gave good results, although only one participant had any previous experience of hinge axis location, and it is debatable whether or not this experience is necessary before satisfactory results can be obtained.
(5) She said that even as she approached the gates, she was debating with the boy’s father whether to let the first-grader enter.
(6) But because current donor contributions are not sufficient to cover the thousands of schools in need of security, I will ask in the commons debate that the UK government allocates more.
(7) In a poll before the debate, 48% predicted that Merkel, who will become Europe's longest serving leader if re-elected on 22 September, would emerge as the winner of the US-style debate, while 26% favoured Steinbruck, a former finance minister who is known for his quick-wit and rhetorical skills, but sometimes comes across as arrogant.
(8) Conservative commentators responded with fury to what they believed was inappropriate meddling at a crucial moment in the town hall debate.
(9) The citizenship debate is tawdry, conflated and ultimately pointless | Richard Ackland Read more On Wednesday, the prime minister criticised lawyers for backing terrorists.
(10) While there has been almost no political reform during their terms of office, there have been several ambitious steps forward in terms of environmental policy: anti-desertification campaigns; tree planting; an environmental transparency law; adoption of carbon targets; eco-services compensation; eco accounting; caps on water; lower economic growth targets; the 12th Five-Year Plan; debate and increased monitoring of PM2.5 [fine particulate matter] and huge investments in eco-cities, "clean car" manufacturing, public transport, energy-saving devices and renewable technology.
(11) All 17 candidates are going to be participating in debate night and I think that’s a wonderful opportunity Reince Priebus Republican party officials have defended the decision to limit participation, pointing out that the chasing pack will get a chance to debate separately before the main event.
(12) "Medical professionals have perhaps been the least involved [of all sectors] in debates and discussions around abortion, and anti-choice groups have very effectively carried out a deliberate strategy of targeting and influencing health professionals.
(13) The only thing the media will talk about in the hours and days after the debate will be Trump’s refusal to say he will accept the results of the election, making him appear small, petty and conspiratorial.
(14) Opposition to legal abortion takes magical thinking and a lack of logic | Jessica Valenti Read more The only female Republican candidate for the White House has doubled down on her restrictive position over reproductive rights since a successful debate performance .
(15) Although the debate in the US has led to some piecemeal reforms – including the USA Freedom Act and modest policy changes – many of the most intrusive government surveillance programs remain largely intact.
(16) The debate certainly hit upon a larger issue: the tendency for people in positions of social and cultural power to tell the stories of minorities for them, rather than allowing minority communities to speak for themselves.
(17) On the mothers' internet forum Mumsnet, 44% of women who voted in a post-debate survey said they were now thinking of voting Lib Dem, compared with 23% three weeks ago.
(18) Both a voter and Cooper repeatedly asked him if he stood by his comments in the last Republican presidential debate when he insisted that was the case.
(19) Before the debate, most of our focus group expected David Cameron to win narrowly “because he’s best at debates”.
(20) The treatment of hypertension in pregnancy has been a matter of debate, but the treatment of choice in late pregnancy is delivery.