To exert a measure of control over the new Department of Homeland Security, the Democratic version of the bill to create the agency gave the Senate the power to confirm the director of the White House anti-terrorism office. Progressives supported this change as a way steer antiterrorism efforts away from what they feared might be Bush's conservative tendencies on the issue. Republicans, on the other hand, proposed an amendment to strike this clause from the bill. This vote was on a motion to table (kill) the amendment, so a "yes" vote supported congressional oversight of the anti-terrorism office and the Progressive position. The motion failed, 41-55, and the oversight language was removed from the bill.