Senate immigration bill suffers crushing defeatPOSTED: 5:12 p.m. EDT, June 28, 2007 CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News
Story Highlightsâ?˘ NEW: "It's a sad day for America," says Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
â?˘ Backers were "trying to work a compromise to pass something," says opponent
â?˘ Bush says "Congress must prove ... it can come together on hard issues"
â?˘ Bill was centerpiece of Bush's 2nd term; aimed at legalizing 12 million
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Opponents effectively killed President Bush's long-fought and emotion-laden Senate immigration bill Thursday when members voted against advancing the controversial legislation.
The tally was 46 to 53, 14 votes shy of the 60 needed to end debate.
The president, who visited the Capitol this month to push hard for overhauling the nation's immigration laws, delivered a brief statement shortly after the vote saying he was "sorry" Congress could not reach agreement, calling its "failure to act" a "disappointment." (Watch Bush explain why he was disappointed by the vote )
"Congress really needs to prove to the American people that it can come together on hard issues," Bush said.
The bill aimed to create a path to citizenship for some of the 12 million illegal immigrants and to toughen border security.
Explaining his reasons for voting against the bill, GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, a leading critic of the measure, said "it would not work."
"Our analysis was that it would result in 8.7 million more people in the next 20 years here illegally," said the Alabama senator.
Thursday's vote represented a "sad day for America," said Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. (See how your senators voted)
"Everyone knows that our immigration laws are broken," Schumer said. "And a country loses some of its greatness when it can't fix a problem that everyone knows is broken. And that's what happened today."
