June 29, 2007

Senators Vote to Defeat the Comprehensive Immigration Bill

The Senate this morning took a critical vote on a cloture motion, which was required in order to stop debate and proceed to a vote on final passage on the comprehensive immigration reform bill. Sixty votes were required in order to be successful and keep the process to reform our broken immigration system moving forward. Unfortunately, the final vote tally was 46 - 53, well short of the 60 required.

This loss represents a significant blow to supporters of immigration reform. It is unlikely that the House of Representatives will take up the matter and by all accounts, comprehensive immigration reform is off the table until after the Presidential elections. So for now, the next possible date for action will be 2009. Of course, this is too long a period of time to address our broken immigration system and we encourage everyone to continue engaging their members of Congress to act. Additionally, while comprehensive immigration reform is done for now, we do expect that individual areas of concern will be addressed such as H-1B visas and relief for nurses.

Below is a breakdown of how Senators voted:

YEAs ---46

Akaka (D-HI)           Bennett (R-UT)

Biden (D-DE)           Boxer (D-CA)

Cantwell (D-WA)      Cardin (D-MD)

Carper (D-DE)         Casey (D-PA)

Clinton (D-NY)         Conrad (D-ND)

Craig (R-ID)            Dodd (D-CT)

Durbin (D-IL)           Feingold (D-WI)

Feinstein (D-CA)      Graham (R-SC)

Gregg (R-NH)           Hagel (R-NE)

Inouye (D-HI)          Kennedy (D-MA)

Kerry (D-MA)           Klobuchar (D-MN)

Kohl (D-WI)             Kyl (R-AZ)

Lautenberg (D-NJ)    Leahy (D-VT)

Levin (D-MI)            Lieberman (ID-CT)

Lincoln (D-AR)          Lott (R-MS)

Lugar (R-IN)             Martinez (R-FL)

McCain (R-AZ)          Menendez (D-NJ)

Mikulski (D-MD)         Murray (D-WA)

Nelson (D-FL)          Obama (D-IL)

Reed (D-RI)             Reid (D-NV)

Salazar (D-CO)        Schumer (D-NY)

Snowe (R-ME)         Specter (R-PA)

Whitehouse (D-RI)    Wyden (D-OR)


NAYs ---53

Alexander (R-TN)      Allard (R-CO)

Barrasso (R-WY)       Baucus (D-MT)

Bayh (D-IN)             Bingaman (D-NM)

Bond (R-MO)            Brown (D-OH)

Brownback (R-KS)     Bunning (R-KY)

Burr (R-NC)              Byrd (D-WV)

Chambliss (R-GA)      Coburn (R-OK)

Cochran (R-MS)       Coleman (R-MN)

Collins (R-ME)          Corker (R-TN)

Cornyn (R-TX)         Crapo (R-ID)

DeMint (R-SC)          Dole (R-NC)

Domenici (R-NM)       Dorgan (D-ND)

Ensign (R-NV)           Enzi (R-WY)

Grassley (R-IA)         Harkin (D-IA)

Hatch (R-UT)           Hutchison (R-TX)

Inhofe (R-OK)          Isakson (R-GA)

Landrieu (D-LA)        McCaskill (D-MO)

McConnell (R-KY)      Murkowski (R-AK)

Nelson (D-NE)          Pryor (D-AR)

Roberts (R-KS)         Rockefeller (D-WV)

Sanders (I-VT)        Sessions (R-AL)

Shelby (R-AL)          Smith (R-OR)

Stabenow (D-MI)     Stevens (R-AK)

Sununu (R-NH)        Tester (D-MT)

Thune (R-SD)         Vitter (R-LA)

Voinovich (R-OH)      Warner (R-VA)

Webb (D-VA)


Not Voting - 1

Johnson (D-SD)