How did Senate Republicans vote on the 2013 continuing resolution roll call?

1. What people claimed — competing counts and emphatic opposition

Multiple analyses assert different counts for how Senate Republicans voted on the 2013 CR, creating an appearance of contradiction in public reporting. One summary states that 45 Republicans voted against and five did not vote while the bill passed 73–26, implying most Republicans opposed final passage ^[3]. Other reports emphasize a 73–26 final tally and describe partisan splits where a plurality or majority of Republicans opposed the measure, citing a 63–36 cloture vote earlier and a unanimity on the motion to take up the bill ^{[2] [5]}. Reporters also highlight intermediate votes—such as the unanimous 100–0 vote to take up the House bill and the later 54–44 procedural votes over amendments—which feed the differing impressions about Republican alignment and the final opposition count ^{[1] [4]}.

2. The procedural maze — unanimity to consideration, then partisan rupture

The Senate’s process produced sharply different outcomes at distinct stages: first, the chamber voted 100–0 to take up the House-passed CR, a procedural vote that allowed debate to begin and reflected broad willingness to consider the measure even among Republicans ^[1]. That unanimity on consideration did not translate into support for the substance: subsequent votes included a cloture/limit-debate tally reported as 63–36 in some sources and procedural moves where 25 Republicans joined Democrats to limit debate on certain amendments, illustrating tactical cross-party maneuvers ^{[2] [4]}. The path from consideration to passage included votes to strip provisions (notably language defunding the Affordable Care Act) and to reconcile House and Senate language, each producing different alignments and thus different reported Republican vote counts ^{[4] [6]}.

3. Final passage numbers — majority support but clear Republican resistance

On final passage, the strongest consistent figure across sources is 73 senators voting in favor and 26 opposed, which plainly indicates broad Senate support but also a significant Republican minority opposing the CR ^{[2] [3]}. Several sources interpret the 26 opposition votes as largely Republican, reporting that approximately two dozen to several dozen Republicans opposed the resolution, with a handful not voting; one detailed roll-call synthesis states 45 Republicans opposed in a particular tabulation while other accounts place the opposition at 26 Republicans depending on which version or amendment is counted ^{[3] [5]}. The operative fact is that the final Senate disposition kept the government funded without the House language defunding the health care law, a result that prompted notable Republican dissent reflected in multiple roll calls ^{[4] [6]}.

4. Why the numbers diverge — different motions, different moments

The apparent contradictions between sources resolve when one recognizes the Senate recorded several related but distinct votes: the motion to take up the bill (100–0), cloture votes to limit debate (variously 63–36 or other tallies), amendment votes on defunding Obamacare, and final passage votes (73–26). Some sources aggregate Republican opposition across multiple roll calls and amendments—yielding larger counts like 45 opposed—while other sources report the discrete final passage tally of 73–26 and note that the 26 opposed were predominantly Republicans ^{[1] [4] [3]}. Reporting choices—focusing on procedural unanimity versus substantive opposition—produce divergent headlines, but the underlying congressional record contains all these roll calls and supports both the unanimity on consideration and the Republican resistance on substance ^{[2] [4]}.

5. Political meaning — tactics, thresholds, and intra-party strains

The roll-call pattern reveals a tactical calculus: many Republicans supported taking up the bill to avoid an immediate shutdown while opposing its substance because it stripped out language to defund the Affordable Care Act, creating intra-party tensions and tactical votes aimed at preserving leverage ^{[1] [6]}. Senators like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee used procedural tools to delay and spotlight defections, prompting some Republicans to join Democrats on cloture or amendments at various times while coalescing against the final CR as written; this produced vote tallies that look inconsistent unless one distinguishes procedural votes from final passage ^{[1] [4]}. The net outcome—passage of a CR that did not defund Obamacare despite substantial Republican opposition—illustrates the limits of filibuster-era leverage when party unity fractures and procedural norms produce multiple meaningful roll calls ^{[5] [6]}.

6. Bottom line and where to check the official record

The Senate’s official roll-call pages confirm the sequence: unanimous consent to take up the House bill, contested cloture and amendment fights, and a 73–26 final passage that included substantial Republican opposition as reflected in several related roll calls. To resolve any remaining numeric ambiguity, consult the Senate roll-call entries for H.J.Res. 59 and H.R. 933 and the detailed vote descriptions for each motion—take-up, cloture, concurrence, and final passage—which together account for the reported variations in Republican vote counts ^{[3] [2]}. The essential fact stands: Senate Republicans largely opposed the substantive 2013 continuing resolution even though they supported procedural consideration, and the multiple roll calls explain divergent counts in contemporary reporting. ^{[4] [5]}