The Senate came close to its target of 70 votes in support of immigration reform during a procedural vote on Monday night, with 67 senators green-lighting a vote on a major border security amendment designed to encourage GOP support.
A total of 15 Republicans voted for this amendment -- Hoeven-Corker -- giving supporters of the bill an initial estimate of how many GOP votes they might be able to snag for the final passage of the overhaul bill.
Strikingly, some of these Republican senators had opposed previous immigration-reform efforts -- like the 2010 DREAM Act (designed to give legal status to undocumented immigrants brought into the U.S. as children) and comprehensive reform in 2007.
Here’s how these 15 Republicans voted on past legislative efforts, including the DREAM Act, the 2007 Senate legislation and the 2006 bill that passed the Senate (but that ultimately died after clashing with the House):
Alexander (R-TN)
2006 immigration bill- NAY
2007 immigration bill – NAY
DREAM ACT – NAY
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Ayotte (R-NH)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – N/A
DREAM ACT – N/A
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Chiesa (R-NJ)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – N/A
DREAM ACT – N/A
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Collins (R-ME)
2006 immigration bill- AYE
2007 immigration bill – NAY
DREAM ACT – NAY
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Corker (R-TN)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – NAY
DREAM ACT – NAY
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Flake (R-AZ)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – N/A
DREAM ACT – N/A
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Graham (R-SC)
2006 immigration bill- AYE
2007 immigration bill – AYE
DREAM ACT – NAY
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Hatch (R-UT)
2006 immigration bill- NAY
2007 immigration bill – NAY
DREAM ACT – did not vote
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Heller (R-NV)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – N/A
DREAM ACT – N/A
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Hoeven (R-ND)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – N/A
DREAM ACT – N/A
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Kirk (R-IL)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – N/A
DREAM ACT – NAY
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
McCain (R-AZ)
2006 immigration bill- AYE
2007 immigration bill – AYE
DREAM ACT – NAY
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Murkowski (R-AK)
2006 immigration bill- AYE
2007 immigration bill – NAY
DREAM ACT – AYE
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Rubio (R-FL)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – N/A
DREAM ACT – N/A
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE
Wicker (R-MS)
2006 immigration bill- N/A
2007 immigration bill – N/A
DREAM ACT – NAY
HOEVEN-CORKER – AYE