President Barack Obama’s jobs bill is back in limbo after failing to get enough G.O.P. support Tuesday to move forward. Illinois’ two U.S. senators were split on the measure.

Like many Republicans, Sen. Mark Kirk said he sees the bill not as a jobs bill, but as a second stimulus. He said, “Another massive borrowing and spending program with more taxes probably first has to answer the question - why didn’t the first stimulus didn’t work?”

Kirk argued the parts of the bill with bi-partisan support should be stripped out of it and moved quickly through Congress. In a news conference Tuesday, he said, “The president’s ideas with regards to payroll taxes are good ones and if they were separated from the bill would move very fast.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., voted to move the measure forward Tuesday. He even went so far as to bring a Peoria family of steel workers to the senate floor before the vote.

Durbin argued that the bill would help strengthen small businesses like theirs and create jobs.

In a statement after the vote, Mr. Obama said, “Tonight’s vote is by no means the end of this fight.”