Democrats blocked the fiscal 2016 defense spending bill in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, part of a campaign to force majority Republicans to start budget negotiations by refusing to allow any appropriations measure to advance to a final vote.
The 50-45 vote failed to achieve the 60 majority needed to advance to final passage, as all but one member of the Democratic caucus opposed moving ahead with the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately filed a motion to keep the bill alive for further consideration. Republicans have been trying to put pressure on Democrats by charging that their vote indicates a lack of support for the military.
The only Democrat to vote with the Republicans was Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
The appropriations bill stalled shortly after the Senate passed an annual defense policy bill authorizing some $600 billion in defense spending for fiscal 2016.
President Barack Obama has threatened to veto both bills.
Senate Democrats and Republicans are fighting over a Republican-led plan to use special war contingency funds to let the Department of Defense sidestep mandatory "sequestration" spending caps imposed across the federal government for the past two years.
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