The House will be voting on an epic 142 amendments to the 2013 NDAA bill on Thursday.
Congress members made it clear during Wednesday debate on the bill that they will push for amendments dealing with detainee policy, same-sex marriage and Iran.
PolicyMic will be Live blogging the proceedings.
Hearings Will likely go into Friday.
You can also watch live debate here.
Live Updates: 6:30 pm: NDAA Unconstitutional: A preliminary ruling finds the NDAA likely to be unconstitutional, striking down infinite detention and prohibits its enforcement pending a permanent ruling.
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction late Wednesday to block provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that allows the US government to indefinitely detain anyone it accuses of knowingly or unknowingly supporting terrorism.
Under the law the government has the power to subject US citizens to military detention, under which the detained persons can be tortured, without ever filing charges against the detainee based merely on accusations that do no need to be substantiated with evidence of any kind while denying the detained person a right to a lawyer or even a trial.
6:15 pm: The Smith-Amash Amendment: One amendment in particular, the Smith-Amash amendment explicitly bans indefinite detention and military commissions from the U.S., and repeals section 1022 from the 2012 NDAA. Section 1022 outlines: All persons arrested and detained according to the provisions of section 1021, including those detained on U.S. soil, whether detained indefinitely or not, are required to be held by the United States Armed Forces.
The amendment also guarantees that persons arrested on U.S. soil under the Afghanistan AUMF or the NDAA will be charged for their alleged wrongdoing and will receive a fair trial.
5 pm: Rep. Justin Amash (D-Mich.) said the Republican leadership is pushing the Gohmert amendment, which says "you get due process if you're entitled to due process. Sounds nice but doesn't do anything."
Wednesday Proceedings: According to The Hill, late Wednesday, Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) sought to rescue the nearly 100 amendments not made in order, by asking the Rules Committee to vote on motions to make them in order, one at a time. McGovern's own amendment, to accelerate the withdrawal of the U.S. military from Afghanistan, was not accepted.
McGovern's tactic was in essence a protest move, and a waste of time, as each of his requests was turned down in a party-line vote, one after the other. His lengthy effort to consider each of the rejected amendments created tensions as the meeting continued toward midnight.
At one point, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) wondered openly whether some Rules Committee members had been drinking. McGovern responded by saying Republicans offered 95 amendments in committee to the 2010 healthcare law, and continued on. Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) and other Republicans fidgeted throughout the process, or were reading unrelated materials.
The committee finally adjourned at 11:58 p.m. after McGovern said he had gone through about 85 amendments. Finishing before midnight will allow the House to take up the rule Thursday — going past midnight would have required a same-day rule.
