Senate Republicans blocked a push on Tuesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersSenate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Hillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll Schumer, Sanders call for Senate panel to address election security MORE (I-Vt.) to prevent cuts to entitlement spending.

Senators voted 49-49 on an amendment from the former presidential candidate, with 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle. Maine Sen.was the only Republican to vote for Sanders's proposal.

Sanders had tried to win over GOP support by arguing that his amendment was in line with campaign rhetoric from President-elect"It says that we should support President-elect Trump when he campaigned throughout this country saying that I, Donald Trump, will not cut Social Security, will not cut Medicare, will not cut Medicaid," Sanders said ahead of the vote.

"A vote in favor of this amendment is a vote against repealing ObamaCare," Enzi, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, added.

Sanders filed his measure to a shell budget resolution that includes instructions for repealing ObamaCare. Under a budget process known as "reconciliation," Republicans are expected to pass the rules this week with a simple majority and require no Democratic support.

The amendment would have created a "point of order" against legislation that would "break Donald Trump's promise not to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid" meaning that any proposal would have been subject to a higher 60-vote threshold.

"Do we hold him to his word or do we just say hey, that's just campaign rhetoric? He lied. It's okay. That's politics in America. It doesn't matter what he said," Sanders asked from the Senate floor.

"I'm not going to cut it, and I'm not going to raise ages, and I'm not going to do all of the things that they want to do," Trump said during a radio interview.

Sanders also hit at Trump over Twitter on Tuesday, outlining 14 comments from Trump on protecting entitlement programs.

Mr. Trump told the American people many times he wouldn’t cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Were these all just lies? — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 10, 2017

But Sen.(R-Wyo.) rejected Sanders's logic, firing back that "I don't think that's exactly what this is about."