This was yet another symbolic vote with no meaning. It cannot become law even if the House were to vote on it. The constitution requires all fiscal legislation to originate in the House and this bill did not. That is why the SenateRepublican leadership decided not to filibuster as the vote was meaningless. This was not an act of compromise, just bluster.
It is the first salvo in the battle over the "fiscal cliff" where the Dems allow all the Bush tax cuts to expire at the end of this year, then propose new legislation to cut taxes for those who make 250K or less (which also cuts the taxes on the first 250K of those who make more) and the GOP will fight it because it doesn't protect the tax cuts for those in the 1%. Polling shows this is very popular for the Dems, but of course the fight won't occur until after the election so the Dems want it on the record with votes. GOP wants to say, again, that those who make over 250K are small businesses and job creaters and if they don't get the tax breaks they will...Not hire at the vigorous rate they did during the last 10 years while these cuts were in effect.