he U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to begin debate and amendments on a historic immigration bill, burying a procedural roadblock that opponents regularly use to delay or even kill legislation.

With November’s election results indicating broad support for updating the country’s immigration laws, even some senators who have expressed opposition to the Senate bill voted to allow the debate to go ahead.

By a vote of 82-15, the Senate cleared the way for the long-anticipated debate that could extend through June.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Barack Obama sought to inject momentum into the push for U.S. immigration reform.

“If you genuinely believe we need to fix our broken immigration system, there’s no good reason to stand in the way of this bill,” Obama said at the White House just hours before the Senate staged its first vote on the measure.

via Immigration bill clears early test vote; Obama calls for action | Reuters.