110th Congress / Senate / 1st session / Vote 204

• Question: On the Cloture Motion
• Category: Cloture
• Vote description: Motion to Invoke Cloture on S. 1348; Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007
• Vote type: 3/5 (Help)
  A three-fifths majority of those present and voting is required for approval or passage. Used in the Senate.
• Result: Rejected, 34-61, with 4 not voting.
• Date/time: June 7, 2007, 11:59 a.m.
• Republican majority opinion: No (Help)
  The position of more than 50 percent of voting Republicans. "None" means an equal split between "Yes" and "No."
• Democrat majority opinion: Yes (Help)
  The position of more than 50 percent of voting Democrats. "None" means an equal split between "Yes" and "No."

Key Vote Analysis

This cloture vote would have moved the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 forward to an "up or down" vote on the Senate floor. But the cloture vote failed, 34 to 61, leaving the bill subject to unlimited debate and effectively killing it.

The bill set forth border security measures and enforcement provisions which were seen as controversial on both sides of the aisle.

The bill called for a crack down on the hiring of illegal immigrants and would have required $10-15 billion in total spending, GOP aides told The Washington Post.

If passed, the bill would have, “tightened border security, cracked down on the hiring of illegal immigrants and provided a path for such immigrants to stay and work legally in the United States,” reported the Washington Post. The bill also allowed for a guest-worker program to be established after five years and explicitly made it “unlawful to knowingly hire, recruit, or refer for a fee an unauthorized alien” according to the Congressional Research Service.

The bill was defeated by opposition from conservative and liberal causes alike. From the Democratic side, labor unions protested the guest-worker program as a threat to American jobs. For conservatives of both parties, the path-to-citizenship provision was interpreted as "amnesty" for lawbreakers.

President Bush threw his full support behind this bill, even making a rare visit to Capitol Hill in hopes of bolstering support after it appeared doomed.

Despite his attempts, Bush found his major domestic initiative blocked by most members of his own party as well as a few Democrats.

See other key votes in the 110th Congress

Vote totals