The Senate on Friday morning voted to end debate on the fiscal 2017 defense policy bill, despite objections from both sides to how few amendments were considered.
The Senate advanced the bill on a 68-23 procedural vote. Sixteen Democrats voted with 51 Republicans and one independent to invoke cloture on the bill. Three Republicans – Sens. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Rand Paul – voted with 20 Democrats against it.
The Senate still needs to vote on final passage before beginning conference with the House.
Senators, who officially began debate on the bill this week, considered only a handful of the more than 400 amendments that were introduced.
Those that were not considered range in topics from freezing the eggs and sperm of troops before a deployment in case of injury to modifying the military justice system for sexual assault.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said ahead of Friday’s vote that each of these topics deserves a debate, regardless of whether you agree with the position of the amendment.
“It’s not the way that we’re supposed to conduct business here in the United States Senate. I’ve reached a level of frustration that I would consider changing rules so one individual out of 100 can’t bring things to a screeching halt, and that’s what’s happening here,” McCain said on the Senate floor.
Minority Leader Harry Reid, who faced criticism from Republicans for not allowing enough amendments when Democrats controlled the Senate, also dinged the “so-called robust amendment process” for the National Defense Authorization Act.
