The Senate failed Thursday to break a filibuster against an anti-crime bill that included curbs on semiautomatic assault weapons.
The vote was 57-37 - three short of the 60 required to choke off debate. Senate Democratic Leader George Mitchell said in advance failure to break the filibuster would doom the bill for the year.The bill included provisions instituting the death penalty for 30 federal crimes and is designed to end delays of up to a decade in carrying out executions. It also would allow courts to consider evidence gathered with flawed warrants in some cases.
Thursday's vote was a victory for the National Rifle Association, which lobbied heavily to offset the Senate's decision last month to impose restrictions on semiautomatic weapons.
The Senate Tuesday voted 54-37 to impose the time limit, six short of the number required.
Mitchell confirmed that the NRA bombarded its members in his state asking them to call and denounce his support for the ban on the semiautomatic assault weapons.
He said some of the NRA's statements were "false" but added it was not the first time the organization had used "hyperbole and exaggeration" in its campaigns.
Mitchell's threat to dump the bill drew an irate response from Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who voted against cloture.
"I don't understand this effort to vote cloture at this point," Lott said in Senate remarks. "I also don't understand this threat to pull down the bill and go to other important business. I don't know of anything more important."
He denied accusations by sponsors of the measure that the bill was being delayed because of the gun issue. "There are many important amendments, and senators want to get involved in this," Lott said.