July 22, 2011 - The U.S. Senate voted today to table H.R. 2560 in a party-line vote of 51-46. The procedure of a "Motion to Table the Motion to Proceed to Consider H.R. 2560" resulted in interest groups taking the opposite position that they did when the bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representative earlier in the week.
The motion was supported by liberal policy groups, including a broad spectrum of union groups, Food & Water Watch, the NAACP, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Immigration Law Center. The motion was opposed by conservative-leaning groups such as Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, the Christian Coalition of America, the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, and the Heritage Foundation.
- Interest groups that supported this motion (Teachers unions, Democratic/Liberal, State & local govt employee unions, Minority/Ethnic Groups, Environmental policy, Women's issues, Gay & lesbian rights & issues, etc.) gave on average 6.1 times as much to senators who voted 'YES' ($1,072,408) as they gave to senators who voted 'NO' ($176,151).
- Interest groups that opposed this motion (Republican/Conservative, Christian Conservative, Fiscal & tax policy) gave on average 548 times as much to senators who voted 'NO' ($200,787) as they gave to senators who voted 'YES' ($367).
Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to senators in office on day of vote, from interest groups invested in the vote according to MapLight, January 1, 2005 – December 31, 2010. Campaign contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org.
