Key takeaways
- The Senate rejected the motion to proceed to S.J.Res. 187 by a 48-50 vote.
- Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican to vote Yea.
- Republicans Marsha Blackburn and Mitch McConnell did not vote.
The vote
On August 5, the U.S. Senate voted 48-50 to reject a motion to proceed to S.J.Res. 187, a resolution that would have used the Congressional Review Act to overturn an EPA rule modifying the start of the submission period for PFAS reporting and recordkeeping under TSCA 8(a)(7).
| Party or caucus | Yea | Nay | Not voting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 45 | 0 | 0 |
| Republicans | 1 | 50 | 2 |
| Independents | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 48 | 50 | 2 |
Every Senate Democrat and independent present voted Yea. Every Republican present voted Nay except Collins. Blackburn and McConnell did not vote.
On a vote almost nobody outside Washington will notice, party alignment explained nearly every senator's choice.
The senator who crossed party lines
Sen. Susan Collins.
Her vote against the rest of her party's participating senators is the kind of documented cross-party stand recognized by theMiddle.net Approved standard.
What it tells us
This was not a marquee bill. It was a dispute over when chemical manufacturers must start reporting PFAS use to EPA under a rule most Americans will never read. That is exactly why the vote deserves a second look: on a compliance deadline rather than abortion, guns, or taxes, every voting Republican but one and every Democrat present still lined up on their own side of the aisle.
That pattern matters. When even administrative questions split along party lines, caucus discipline can crowd out an on-the-merits debate. Democrats used the Congressional Review Act to put Republicans on record, a legitimate but largely symbolic exercise given the votes required. Republicans, in turn, treated the reporting deadline as a party-line question.
Collins is the exception that proves the rule. She also represents a state where candidates regularly need support beyond a single party's base. Senators who cannot rely on a safely one-party electorate have more room, and more incentive, to occasionally vote against their party's grain.
None of this establishes whether the underlying EPA rule was good or bad policy. The official floor record establishes the motion, result, and individual votes. What it shows is simpler: a low-profile procedural vote was decided almost entirely along party lines.