Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a bill to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel because of a lack of border provisions in the measure.

Senators voted 49-51, falling short of the 60-vote threshold that would allow the proposal to be considered. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined all Republicans in voting against the measure. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) changed his vote to “no” so he could bring up the bill again in the future.

President Biden’s $111 billion emergency relief package also included aid to the Indo-Pacific region, as well as funding for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, at the border and to combat fentanyl trafficking.

Despite their support for most of these items, Senate Republicans have insisted for weeks that they would withhold their vote on the continuation proposal if the bill was not accompanied by satisfactory border relief.

Senators James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) had held border discussions last month, but they collapsed last week before Murphy and Democrats left the table, arguing that Republicans were asking for too much.

The situation has angered members on both sides.

“Why stop aid to Ukraine when they can’t even come up with a border package that can pass the Senate?” Schumer said earlier on Wednesday.

“We’re asking ourselves this question: Was the border nothing more than an excuse for the hard right to stop funding Ukraine, and are too many other Republican senators who aren’t on the hard right joining in?” he said. “I hope that’s not true.”

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have accused Democrats of not taking their concerns to heart, even though they have made their position clear all along.

“I do not believe that [taking us seriously enough]”, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said earlier this week. “It might take a failed cloture vote for them to realize we’re serious, and we’re willing to do that.”

While Senate Republicans support border measures, part of their appeal for combining them with the additional measures lies on the other side of the Capitol. Conservatives in the House of Representatives, many of whom are already skeptical of Ukraine aid, say border delimitation is a prerequisite for their votes.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Senate Republicans last week that as much as possible should be included from HR 2, the conservative border proposal passed by the House.

Senate Democrats have called the items contained in HR 2 non-starters. Talks between the two sides had focused on asylum and parole, with the group making progress on the former. But just as they did, progressive members and activists cried foul and warned Democratic negotiators not to significantly restrict asylum and parole requests.

But Senate Republicans framed the argument from a national security perspective and were eager to keep the focus on border security rather than immigration, which Democrats prefer.

“Senate Republicans know this is not an either/or proposal. We know that national security begins with border security,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the floor Wednesday. “I have spent months highlighting the undeniable connections between the threats we face in Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. But Democratic leadership appears to be telling us today that it is willing to compromise every one of these pressing priorities to avoid setting our own borders here at home.”

Tensions also heightened Tuesday during a classified briefing when a number of Senate Republicans left early, visibly upset after it became clear that there was to be no discussion of border security and that the briefers were there to discuss other points of the supplementary sheet.

However, Biden on Wednesday signaled renewed openness to a deal, saying he was willing to make “significant compromises” on border policy in order to free up funding for Ukraine in its continued war against Russia.

“I have made it clear that we need Congress to make changes to fix the broken immigration system because we know, we all know, it is broken, and I am prepared to do significantly more,” Biden said in his remarks at the White House. “But in terms of policy changes and providing the resources we need at the border, I’m also willing to change the policy.”

The funds currently included in the border surcharge are aimed at increasing the number of border guards, immigration judges and asylum officers.