Senate Democrats failed in a bid to abrogate the chamber’s legislative filibuster late on Tuesday night, in a development boding poorly for President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Democrats Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined every member of the Republican caucus in voting against a proposition to suspend the filibuster in the case of two Democrat bills designed to enshrine federal control of state elections.

The filibuster requires a majority of 60 votes to pass legislation to the President’s desk, as opposed to a bare majority. Democrats have 50 Senators in addition to the Vice Presidency, a bare-bones majority sufficient for confirming judges but woefully insufficient for passing sweeping legislation to transform the United States into a country predicated on diversity, equity and social justice.