A Republican senator blocked a sweeping House-passed election and ethics reform bill on Wednesday, the latest of several failed attempts by Democrats to advance election-related legislation ahead of 2020.

"The For the People Act repairs our broken campaign finance system, opens up the ballot box to all Americans [and] lays waste to the corruption in Washington," Udall said. "We must unite in defense of our electoral system and in defense of the sanctity of our democracy."

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Merkley argued that the bill was crucial "because everything else we care about ... is going to fail if we let this chamber be controlled by powerful special interests through this corrupted system."

"Apparently the powerful special interests that my friend Mr. Merkley talked about are the state governments, because that's what we're taking authority from here. ... The For the People Act is really the Federal Government Act," he said.

Under the Senate's rules, any one senator can try to vote on or pass a bill, but any other senator can object to and block the legislation.

The legislation passed the Democratic-controlled House in a 234-193 vote in March, and Democrats have been urging Republicans to take it up in the Senate ever since.

Udall tried to counter Blunt on Wednesday by arguing that the bill "supports states" and "puts the American people back in charge."

The back-and-forth on the Senate floor marked the latest example of Democrats trying — without success — to pass election-related legislation ahead of the 2020 elections.