The Kentucky statesman had endured the worst sort of personal abuse during the debates on the bills.

However, NMPs can still voice their opinions and join debates on the bills and motions they cannot vote on.

Debate on the bills continued on November 5 and on November 10, before being postponed and resuming in March 2010.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which holds just over a third of the seats in Parliament, was able to drag out the debate on the bills and even weaken some provisions.

The low-key debate on the bills, which on any other day would be headline-grabbing, provided an interlude between the jocular banter that opened the Senate and Assembly sessions and the angry exchanges sparked by the budget debate.

As the Senate began debate on the bills today, Republican supporters of the Administration's crime-fighting measure also dropped a provision that would have allowed firearms seized by the police during an illegal search to be introduced as evidence in Federal courts.

Debate on the bills is likely to be fierce; the NAB issued a statement today pointing out that the competing Local Radio Freedom Act (which would keep the current system in place) currently has the backing of 127 members of the House.