>the Senate was never going to pass it, much less deliberate on it. Deliberation is the easier first step, actually passing it is harder and comes later. I th

>the Senate was never going to pass it, much less deliberate on it. Deliberation is the easier first step, actually passing it is harder and comes later. I think the correct use of the idiom here would be "the Senate was never going to deliberate on it, much less pass it".