Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/senate-fails-to-move-forward-on-immigration-bill Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript With only 46 of the 60 votes needed to bring the immigration bill to final passage, the Senate voted Thursday to officially suspend debate on immigration reform. The NewsHour discusses the decision with Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. KWAME HOLMAN: The handful of conservative Republicans who helped kill the immigration bill today credited the American people for bombarding senators' offices with calls opposed to the deal. CONGRESSIONAL AIDE: Hello, Senator Sessions' office? CONGRESSIONAL AIDE: Senator Sessions' office?SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), South Carolina: Our phones have been ringing off the hooks, e-mails, letters. People are trying to get in touch with us. Even now they're calling in such numbers that it's crashed the telephone system here in the Senate. My question to the Senate today is: What part of "no" don't we understand? KWAME HOLMAN: Most Republicans argued the bill granted unacceptable amnesty for the millions of illegal immigrants already here. They also blamed Democratic leader Harry Reid for restricting the number of amendments they could offer and limiting their time to speak.SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), Alabama: The procedure used to get us at this point is unprecedented in the history of the Senate, to allow the leadership to approve every single amendment that gets voted on and give us only 10 minutes in opposition this morning, while the masters of the universe get over 40 minutes, 50 minutes to promote their side, typical of the way this debate has gone. KWAME HOLMAN: Those Republicans who did support the bill said they just could not change their colleague's minds. Jon Kyl of Arizona.SEN. JON KYL (R), Arizona: Most issues are not like this, but this is one where you come to the position, and it doesn't much matter what a friend or colleague or the president or anybody else says to you, you believe that's what's best for your particular state.SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader: I am very disappointed that we weren't able to pass this legislation. KWAME HOLMAN: Democratic proponents also lost support within their party, including members from rural states with growing illegal immigrant populations. Nonetheless, New York Democrat Chuck Schumer said walking away from comprehensive immigration reform at this point is unacceptable.SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), New York: This is a sad day for America. Everyone knows that our immigration laws are broken, and a country loses some of its greatness when it can't fix a problem that everyone knows is broken.