Liberal Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans backed Sen. Dianne Feinstein's push to change the detention laws.

The Department of Defense would be prevented from using funds to move suspected terrorists from Gitmo facilities to U.S. prisons. 

The Topline: The Senate worked its way through dozens of amendments on the defense authorization bill Thursday as the heads of the Senate Armed Services Committee hope to finish the bill by the end of the week.

The Senate still has to get through the most contentious issue — indefinite detention of U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism — which Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said would happen later Thursday evening.

Levin said the Senate was in for a late night Thursday as it pushed through amendments to the wide-ranging Pentagon policy bill, with more votes likely on Friday.

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A bipartisan cancer research measure was adopted as an amendment to the Senate defense bill, paving the way for its passage after nearly six years of work.

The Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act mandates that federal health officials create research frameworks for pancreatic and lung cancer, which have five-year survival rates of less than 50 percent.

The bill began as the Pancreatic Cancer Research and Education Act, a project of Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who first introduced it three Congresses ago.

Internet service and cellular networks were blacked out in Syria on Thursday, disrupting communications traveling into and outside of the country, according to the State Department. 

Renesys, a U.S.-based firm that monitors Internet networks, reported on its blog that Syria's Internet connectivity was shut down early Thursday afternoon and all of the country's IP address blocks were unreachable. Google also reported on its Transparency Report tool that its Web services were inaccessible in Syria on Thursday. The search company tweeted: "Internet access completely cut off in Syria. This is why a #freeandopen Internet is so important."

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) forced a roll-call vote on an amendment to the defense bill, despite wide support for the measure.

An amendment expanding healthcare coverage for military family members with disabilities passed in the Senate on a vote of 66-29 Thursday. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced Amendment 3058, which requires the military healthcare provider, TRICARE, to cover therapies for military family members with disabilities, such as autism.

The White House on Thursday threatened to veto the Defense authorization bill on the Senate floor “in its current form,” over the Senate's departures from the Pentagon’s 2013 budget request and provisions limiting transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

But the veto threat in the Obama administration’s Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) released Thursday is not as strong as the one made during last year’s bill that led to a drawn-out fight over indefinite detention provisions.

That fight, which pitted Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Republican hawks against the White House, was over the potential military detention of U.S. citizens. It eventually led to a watered-down compromise and White House signing statement after President Obama dropped the veto threat. 

The Feinstein amendment to the defense authorization bill is currently written to prevent indefinite military detention for U.S. citizens.

The Senate condoned President Obama’s timeline for withdrawal of forces in Afghanistan by passing an amendment to the defense bill Thursday.

The amendment 3096, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), states the support of the Senate that U.S. combat troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan by Dec. 31, 2014.