The so-called “right to work” bill suffered a major setback today after a failed attempt by Republican state senators to bypass committees and hear the measure on the Senate floor.

Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Chaves, made the motion to refer the bill to the committee of the whole—words for the entire Senate body—late Thursday afternoon. Ingle argued that the legislation, which would eliminate mandatory union fees as a condition of employment, is too important to the state to go through the Senate committee process.

“Sometimes no matter what side we’re on, there’s an issue that affects the whole state and there’s something we all need to do,” Ingle said on the floor. “This is one of those issues.”

The motion failed on a 25-17 vote, with all Democrats voting no and all Republicans voting yes. The bill, dubbed the Employee Preference Act, is now assigned to three committees—Public Affairs, Judiciary and Finance—where it’s widely expected to go down on party lines.