Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to overcome a Republican-led filibuster against tougher gun laws, clearing the way for a major congressional debate on a package of proposals sought by President Barack Obama in the aftermath of the Connecticut school massacre. The procedural vote followed a breakthrough by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, who reached a compromise on broadening background checks to include private purchases at gun shows and on the Internet. Because of the bipartisan deal, Senate Democrats backing the legislation received support from enough Republicans to approve the cloture motion, 68-31, setting up debate on the proposals and amendments expected to last for two weeks.
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NEW: Speaker Boehner stops short of promising a House vote on gun measures
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The NRA says it "unequivocally" opposes legislation coming up for debate in the Senate
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16 Republicans join Democrats in overcoming a GOP-led Senate filibuster
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Proposals backed by the White House would expand background checks, take other steps
Both proposals were part of Obama's desired legislation, but were dropped from the package brought to the Senate because they would have prevented Democrats from overcoming the @placeholder filibuster.
Meanwhile, @placeholder said there were aspects of the Manchin-Toomey compromise that he would like to see strengthened.
Failing to pass new gun laws would be a stinging defeat for Obama and @placeholder.