By Fawn Johnson, CongressDaily
© National Journal Group Inc.
Friday, June 8, 2007

The Senate late Thursday dealt a major blow to a bipartisan immigration bill, rejecting a motion by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to cut off debate on the measure as supporters could muster only 45 votes for it.

	Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Republicans will oppose cloture until they are promised votes on a "reasonable" number of GOP amendments.

Reid then pulled the bill from the floor but left open the possibility that the Senate could revisit the measure at some point in the future. "I have every desire to complete this legislation," Reid said after the vote. "When is that? I don't know."

"I think we're giving up on this bill too soon," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "I doubt if the prospects get better with the passage of time."

Eleven Democrats, as well as independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, joined Republicans to cast the 50 votes against bringing debate to a close. Seven Republicans joined with Democrats to support Reid's motion. Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., both switched their votes from "yes" to "no" when the outcome of the vote became obvious.

Among the group of key "grand bargainers" who negotiated the immigration package, Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl of Arizona voted against the cloture motion, along with Georgia Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson. The other Republican negotiators -- Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Mel Martinez, R-Fla., Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and John McCain, R-Ariz. -- voted with most Democrats in favor of cloture.

Aides said McConnell asked Reid to delay the cloture vote until Friday, while Republicans whittled their amendments to 10 on each side, but Reid insisted on holding the vote Thursday evening.

At a news conference before the vote, Reid accused Republicans of preventing Democrats from moving on to the issues Americans care about -- high gas prices and the Iraq war, which the Senate will take up in energy legislation and the FY08 Defense authorization, respectively.

"We did more than our share here tonight," Reid said, noting that Democrats picked up several Democratic supporters during the evening's second cloture vote. Earlier Thursday, the Senate turned back two procedural attempts to shut off debate, prompting Reid to schedule the evening cloture vote.

"We need some help. I hope the president understands that it's only going to be about 16 months until his election. He has a relatively short period of time to help us with this piece of legislation," Reid said.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez were on hand to consult with senators, but the effort was futile.

McConnell has said Republicans will oppose cloture until they are promised votes on a "reasonable" number of GOP amendments. Throughout the week, Reid has promised that Democrats would not stop Republican amendments from being considered if a cloture motion is invoked to end debate.

But, as one GOP aide put it, "We don't trust him."

"This is a complicated bill, but the key to getting it passed is not complicated," McConnell said.

Ben Schneider contributed to this report.