Senate Republicans filibustered the legislation and Democrats held a cloture vote in July where they needed 60 votes to be able to stop the filibuster and move towards a vote on the bill itself.
This time around, Senate Democrats failed to find enough votes for cloture on a closer 59-39 margin, just one vote shy of the 60 needed to end debate. Republicans were able to keep their party caucus together as liberals like Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine voted to sustain the filibuster.
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