14 Republicans back immigration bill

Fourteen Senate Republicans voted to approve the Senate’s immigration bill on Thursday. 

The same 14 members have generally backed the bill in a series of votes this week. 

They include Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.), the four GOP authors of the legislation who worked with four Democrats to bring it to the floor. 

{mosads}Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) and Susan Collins (Maine) also voted for the bill after offering their backing in recent weeks.

Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.) and John Hoeven (N.D.) were two more GOP “yes” votes. They authored a border security amendment that was added to the bill this week. The amendment was intended to bring in more GOP support, and likely won over Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), who voted “yes” on final passage. 

The other GOP “yes” votes were Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), who backed the bill in committee, and Sens. Dean Heller (Nev.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Jeffrey Chiesa (N.J.), who was appointed to the Senate earlier this month.