Senate votes to advance Department of Defense authorization bill

The Senate voted on Wednesday morning to move forward with a bill to authorize funding for the Department of Defense in a 88-1 vote.

The spending bill, S. 1867, has been pending on the Senate floor for about a week and half as floor managers Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have attempted to corral more than 100 amendments, both germane and otherwise, that senators have attempted to tack on to the bill. 

Debate on the bill has meandered over the many activities at home and abroad that are a part of the military's scope. For example Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) argued for an amendment on Tuesday that would force children who live on military bases into surrounding public schools as a cost saving measure, and the Senate passed an amendment Tuesday night that would build a firewall around the weapons supply chain to protect from counterfeit parts from China.

Much of the debate, however, has centered on a controversial terrorist detainee provision included in the bill that senators from both the left and the right have argued would allow for the unconstitutional detention of American citizens who are suspected of involvement in terrorism.

Now that cloture has been obtained, Senators have 30 hours to debate the legislation and offer further amendments before the body proceeds to a vote on final passage.