It was his measure that failed today, on a vote of 52 to 48, largely along party lines.
"It was a cost-saving measure that failed," said Robert Cvejanovich of Cannon Architecture and Design, the firm that designed the renovation, which began two years ago.
In announcing Mr. Santiago's appointment, Mr. McGreevey said he supported legislation providing criminal penalties for racial profiling, a measure that failed in the last legislative session.
One notable measure that failed to pass was a bill that would have given the state university system far more autonomy to set its own tuition rates.
The changes in the energy bill represented an acknowledgment by its Senate authors that the measure that failed last year stood no chance of advancing after it fell two votes short last November.
And when one makes an exception to unfettered gun ownership rights, for example, as Mr. Leavitt did in pushing a measure that failed but would have prevented people from carrying concealed weapons into a church or school he loses support.
The tax-cut issue will revive when Congress returns in September, with the White House again demanding an irresponsible five-year extension costing more than $100 billion, not the more limited two-year measure that failed last week.
Mr. Miller was one of 32 members of LEAP who signed the letter, which expressed support for a California ballot measure that failed last year that would have permitted recreational marijuana use.
Democrats have enjoyed trying to keep Republicans on the defensive about women's issues, and on Tuesday, they tried to keep the debate going by reintroducing a wage gap measure that failed in the Senate in 2010.
Democrats, the majority of whom lined up with Mr. Clinton in opposition to the bill, said they would continue to make their case that while the estate tax should be reduced for family-owned farms and businesses, the measure that failed today would eat up too much of the projected budget surplus and disproportionately reward a tiny percentage of the richest families.
