WASHINGTON -- After sometimes bitter debate, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 yesterday to send Michael B. Mukasey's nomination for attorney general to the Senate, where confirmation is likely.

With two Democrats, Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles E. Schumer of New York , joining all nine Republicans on the panel in support of the nomination, the retired federal judge moved a step closer to heading the Justice Department - despite deep concern about his refusal to declare a coercive interrogation method known as waterboarding to be illegal torture.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, voted against the nomination, saying he was troubled that Mukasey did not provide "a strong enough denouncement of torture." The full Senate is expected to consider the nomination this week or next week.