A group of senators have quietly inserted into a Coast Guard authorization bill a provision that would allow an old wooden steamboat to operate as an overnight cruise ship despite repeated official warnings that doing so would create a floating fire trap.

The Senate fell four votes short Wednesday of moving forward with the authorization measure. But the issue is not expected to die there.

The question is whether Congress will exempt the Delta Queen steamboat from a statutory and regulatory requirement that cruise ships with overnight accommodations for 50 or more passengers be made of fire-retardant materials.

The ship has taken on outsize significance on Capitol Hill because it would bring millions of tourist dollars and hundreds of jobs to voters who live along the Mississippi River.

Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of the GOP leadership team, said in a brief interview Wednesday that he and his fellow Missourian, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, are the authors of the exemption provision.