Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to members of the media after the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon at Hart Senate Office Building September 9, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

Republicans were simply using the vote to send a message.

A Senate vote on Republicans’ “skinny” stimulus bill failed Thursday, leaving lawmakers at the same impasse they’ve been at for months.

The 52-47 vote, which was intended to demonstrate Republican unity and support for the stimulus while putting pressure on Democrats, was only mildly successful in that aim, with 52 Republicans supporting the bill and Sen. Rand Paul voting against it. No Democratic senators, who’ve long pushed for a more expansive stimulus package, voted in favor of it. As a result, the bill was unable to meet the 60-vote threshold it needed to advance.

Republicans’ legislation