Washington ( CNN ) -- The political posturing , and theater , related to the fiscal cliff continued Thursday as Senate leaders squared off over whether to make it harder for Congress to block future increases in the debt ceiling . At issue was a move by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , and meant to put Democrats in a tough spot , that backfired . McConnell pushed for a vote on an idea he first proposed last year as part of the debt ceiling standoff . Movement in fiscal cliff talks . The legislation would allow the president to increase the debt ceiling without congressional approval , though Congress could block the move if a two-thirds majority of both the House and Senate voted to disapprove it . Democrats want the change because raising the limit has become increasingly contentious , as Republicans have demanded spending cuts and other reforms to go along with it . Another debt limit increase is needed early next year . McConnell now opposes the change he once advanced because it was intended as a one-time solution to the deadlock over the debt last year . Nevertheless , he pushed for a vote on it because he wanted to show that even some Democrats oppose giving the president that much authority , and he knew there was no way Democrats could garner the 60 votes typically needed for major legislation to pass the Senate . But in the back-and-forth legislative chess match that often plays out on the Senate floor , Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid instead moved to pass the measure with a 51-vote threshold , confident that he had at least that many votes to give Democrats a victory . Recognizing that , McConnell objected to voting at the lower threshold , meaning he was filibustering the bill he had just pushed for a vote . Obama visits 'middle class ' family . As expected , Democrats did declare victory and argued that Republican defeat was another sign that they are losing the bigger battle over the fiscal cliff . `` Senator McConnell 's filibuster prevented us from having this vote today , but I will continue to seek an agreement to hold an up-or-down vote on his proposal to avoid another debt ceiling debacle , '' Reid said . `` We have the higher ground , '' said Sen. Chuck Schumer , D-New York . `` They know that they got burnt the last time by using the debt ceiling for political leverage . Things are even more in our advantage today . '' McConnell move on debt ceiling backfires .
A move by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backfires . McConnell pushed for a vote on a debt ceiling idea he first proposed last year . After a move by Majority Leader Republicans , McConnell ended up going to a vote on the idea . Democrats said it was another sign that Republicans are losing the battle on the fiscal cliff .