The Senate Dec. 12 agreed to end floor debate on the draft $886.3 billion defense budget, a standard procedural step that sets the stage for a Dec. 13 chamber adoption.
But the parliamentary maneuvering that preceded the rarely-contested cloture motion was anything but standard in advancing the military appropriations package, or National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Before approving a cloture motion to quell NDAA debate by a required 60-percent majority, senators in 60-percent votes shot down point-of-order objections to the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy and last-minute rejection of an amendment extending a federal assistance program for those exposed to radiation from the nation’s nuclear weapons programs….
