On Monday, the Senate passed a cloture vote on the Marketplace Fairness Act (S 743). The vote of 74-20 greatly exceeded the 60 votes required for approval. This vote places a time limit on the debate and allows consideration of the bill on the floor. A record of how Senators voted can be found at: http://1.usa.gov/Y0wbBn.
Prior to the vote, President Obama expressed his support for the bipartisan measure in an official Statement of Administration Policy. S 743 now moves to the floor for debate and several “poison pill” amendments may be introduced that could jeopardize final passage of the bill. Local government organizations are supporting a “clean” version of the bill and will likely oppose any amendment to the measure. A final vote on the measure could come on Wednesday or Thursday.
