The Senate voted down a war powers resolution brought by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday that would have forced the United States military to halt the operation of the Gaza pier as the Biden administration announced it was abandoning the effort. 

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) was the only Democrat to support the resolution, which failed by a 48-46 vote, the result of a number of absences. The legislation still failed because it didn’t reach the 51-vote threshold necessary for passage. 

The Texas senator was able to force floor consideration of the legislation because it was privileged, meaning that Democrats lacked the power to block a vote. His attempt to force a vote on an additional war powers bill requiring the Biden administration to end any blockades on weapons transfers or potential sales to Israel was unsuccessful. 

Thursday’s vote came as the Pentagon announced that the U.S. military had failed to re-anchor the pier due to “technical and weather-related issues” and would “cease operations” indefinitely. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement that the pier and its vessels had been transported to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where the items will be stored until further notice. 

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters following the announcement that he expected that “in relatively short order we will wind down pier operations.”

It is not clear that the announcement was timed in conjunction with Thursday’s vote. The Republican-led House passed companion legislation addressing arms sales in May to veto threats from the White House. For his part, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said at the time that he had no plans to bring the resolution up for a vote, prompting Cruz to force floor consideration for the legislation on the pier once the Senate parliamentarian deemed it to be privileged. 

Asked about the development in an exclusive interview with Jewish Insider after the vote, Cruz said that, “The pier was going so badly, that the White House might have had no choice” but to shut it down, pointing to the fact that the pier “is sinking” and “has been repeatedly fired upon.”

“We can debate whether sufficient aid is getting to the Gaza Strip, but I believe that our Israeli allies have taken unprecedented steps to ensure that, indeed, there is. I understand that many Democrats disagree,” Cruz said on the Senate floor. “What is undeniable, however, is that whatever aid is coming in, it has not, will not, and indeed, could not have come through this godforsaken pier.” 

In the JI interview, Cruz panned Senate Democrats for allowing the Biden administration policy of “profound opposition to Israel and support for our enemies” to persist despite being, as he put it, “precisely upside down.”

Cruz said he pushed for votes on each resolution to ensure that “every Democrat was forced to go on record [and answer]: Do you support spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build a pier in Gaza that ends up benefiting Hamas? Or do you instead believe we should support our friend and ally the State of Israel?”

“When President Biden announced the Gaza pier at the State of the Union address, a number of us laughed out loud because it was an idiotic idea to begin with. At this point, it has benefited Hamas, put U.S. servicemen and women in danger, hurt Israel, and undermined America’s geopolitical credibility,” he continued.