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WASHINGTON (Court TV) — Senators voted down House prosecutors' request to have Monica Lewinsky testify live, but the public will get a chance to watch her videotaped deposition. The senators have already been able to view the tapes privately.

House prosecutors had told senators they needed to see more than what was in the deposition conducted Monday. But 70 senators disagreed.

Instead, the Senate voted 62-38 to play in public the three depositions during the presentation of evidence, before moving into the final phase of the trial.

By a vote of 56-44, the Senate rejected a motion by Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to proceed directly to closing arguments and a vote on the articles before releasing the videos.

Each side will have three hours to present evidence on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. The videotapes combined are nine hours long, so substantial editing will be required.

The Senate rejected, 46-54, a motion by White House lawyers asking House prosecutors to tell them what they plan to air on Saturday.

The Senate adjourned at 4:30 p.m. The trial will be in recess on Friday. It is scheduled to end by Feb. 12.

House prosecutors say there's some new information in the depositions that will help make the case against Clinton.

For example, Republican Congressman Asa Hutchinson says Jordan testified this week about his efforts to help Lewinsky find a job. He says Jordan testified that Clinton had asked him to do that. And he quotes Jordan as saying that it was he, and not Lewinsky, who was running the job search.

Hutchinson says that shows that Jordan was an unwitting agent for Clinton as he tried to cover up his relationship with Lewinsky.

Another House prosecutor says Blumenthal told his questioners this week that Clinton had lied to him about his relationship with Lewinsky, as the relationship became public.

Prosecutors say that's part of Clinton's effort to obstruct justice.

White House lawyer Greg Craig argued, unsuccessfully, that making the depositions of Jordan, Blumenthal and Lewinsky public would mean more unwelcome details of the relationship would be carried into America's living rooms. But prosecutors say there's nothing "salacious" in the tapes.

The Senate Republicans also indicated Thursday that prospects were dimming for a proposal that would conclude Clinton committed wrongdoing without removing him from office.

The ``finding of fact'' proposal pushed by some Republicans accuses Clinton of lying to the grand jury. They would like to vote on that before the actual articles of impeachment.

Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, called the proposal "an effort for politicians to protect themselves politically. The way out is to vote 'guilty' or 'not guilty' and live with it."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said a Democratic alternative would be written less legalistically than the articles of impeachment "and more in moral terms of censure."

Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic minority leader, said the Democrats were drafting a proposal to censure Clinton and expected to have it completed in a day or so.

The two articles of impeachment under consideration charge the president with grand jury perjury and obstruction of justice.

The Constitution requires a two-thirds vote to convict a president and remove him from office — a margin both parties agree is not within reach — but a so-called finding of fact would only need a majority. Critics argue there is no constitutional alternative to conviction and removal.

Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart added, "I think it's understandable as people work toward trying to figure out a way to bring this process to an end ... but in the rush to do that ... they shouldn't try to trample on the Constitution in the process."

Republican senators also sent Clinton a letter, asking him to submit voluntarily to a sworn deposition to answer questions in the case. The president already has said he would not do either.

"Your knowledge, intent, actions and omissions are central to the charges. ... Personal answers from you should prove beneficial in our efforts to reconcile conflicting testimony," the Republicans wrote.

Court TV's Catherine Heins and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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