What Crosscutsaw said to me (post 18) after I asked this question is that Cruz’s admendent really trashed the Gang of 8s bill because with the admendment the illegals could have come “out of the shadows” but without being citizens i.e. voters. So this caused the bill to collapse.
Although I’n not sure why they didn’t pass it without Cruz’s admendment but I don’t know any details about the gonigs on in Congress.
There was a big campaign at the time led by Cruz and Sessions and others along with talk radio to get the bill killed. It really felt like it was going to pass for a while. That’s why Cruz and others were using these desperate and unusual measures to do anything to stop it. But the switchboards eventually lit up and I believe it was Boehner in the House who eventually refused to take up the Senate’s bill, realizing they would get trounced in the elections if they did.