Cloture motion fails on immigration bill

NY Times:

A bill that would overhaul immigration law suffered a crippling defeat this evening in the Senate, casting grave doubt on the prospects for changing the system any time soon.

The defeat was in the form of a motion to shut off debate and move the bill toward a yes-or-no vote. The vote was 50 to 45 against the motion. Thus, it fell 15 short of carrying, since 60 votes were required under Senate rules.

After the cloture motion failed to win Senate approval, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, held out the hope this evening that the bill could be acted upon again within “several weeks.”

“I have every desire to complete this legislation,” he said.

Otherwise, Mr. Reid may shelve the bill for the year. He said beforehand that the lawmakers had to turn their attention to other issues.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts and an architect of the bill, had predicted that the vote would be “extremely close.”

This evening’s vote is a bitter disappointment for President Bush, who has made comprehensive immigration reform a top priority, and for those who saw the Senate measure as an opportunity to fix a system that many acknowledge is broken.

...

The cloture vote came after hours of private give-and-take as backers and critics of the bill sought common ground. A morning vote to end debate fell 27 short of the 60 needed to cut off floor debate as conservatives pushed successfully for more time to try to reshape the legislation written by a bipartisan group of senior lawmakers.

“The majority is simply not going to get anywhere trying to stuff the minority,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said earlier today.

Backers of the bill then scrambled to pull together an agreement to keep the bill alive, supported by administration leaders working behind the scenes toward the same goal.

Before this evening’s crucial votes, Mr. Reid made it clear he would hold Republicans, who voted unanimously against limiting the debate, responsible if the bill died.

“The headline’s going to be, Democrats vote to continue the bill, Republicans vote against it, the president fails again,” predicted Mr. Reid.

...

Reid's headline predictions also failed. Here is the headline that topped this story in the NY Times:

Immigration Bill Fails to Win Crucial Vote in Senate

The story goes on to make clear the vote against cloture was bipartisan. However, this bill was so unpopular with the Republican base that Reid's headline would have probably been a badge of honor for most Republicans. I do not think they will be able to resuscitate this bill. The more people became aware of its provisions the stronger the opposition grew. Time is not going to heel that problem.

The Washington Post also refuse to take its editing decisions from Harry Reid noting the bipartisan nature of the vote against cloture its headline on the story was:

Immigration Bill Fails to Gain Senate Approval

The failure of the bill may wind up helping John McCain in a way, because it will change the subject from one that has hurt his campaign. The heroes of this victory against amnesty are John Cornyn and Jeff Sessions among others. They put forward persuasive arguments against the bill. On the Democrat there were some less heroic bill killers, but most conservatives have to feel like they were shot at and missed.