The Senate's border security and supplemental funding bill failed to earn enough support in a procedural test vote on Wednesday afternoon, confirming what became clear just a few hours after the legislative text was released on Sunday night: it was never going to become law.
Despite the bill being declared "dead on arrival" in the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate pressed ahead with the cloture vote that failed 49-50. Sixty "aye" votes were required to end debate in order to move the legislation ahead to a final vote on its passage.
The 41st "no" vote — putting the final nail in the bill's coffin — came from Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). On Tuesday, McConnell (R-KY) addressed the legislation's fate and admitted it had "no real chance" of becoming law. "Things have changed over the last four months and it's been made perfectly clear by the Speaker that he wouldn't take it up even if we sent it to him, and so I think that's probably why most of our members think we ought to have opposition tomorrow," McConnell explained.
And oppose the legislation, the Senate GOP did.
The border bill is as dead as Woodrow Wilson.
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) February 7, 2024
I will vote against the deal when the Senate formally kills it today.
If Pres. Biden really wants to secure the border, he can change his policies and follow the law.
Despite the opposition from most Republicans in the Senate, a few — the GOP's lead negotiator James Lankford (OK), Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Mitt Romney (UT) — still voted to move the bill ahead while some Democrats — Alex Padilla (CA), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Ed Markey (MA), Bob Menendez (NJ), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — voted "no."
This is a developing story and may be updated.