Don't take that for actual closeness. In many votes including this one, Senators may want to vote against leadership but will only do so if permitted. So if, say, 5 more Democrats had insisted on voting yes to make the amendment pass, McConnell would have told 5 more Republicans that they were disallowed from voting against it, and the amendment would have failed by... one vote.
The dynamic here is that Republican politicians often want to present themselves to constituents as being against the police state or big government, but the party/party leadership wants to pass measures such as this. So the individual politicians are accommodated to the extent that they don't interfere with the party passing what it wants.
You see a similar dynamic in quite a lot of votes.
The dynamic here is that Republican politicians often want to present themselves to constituents as being against the police state or big government, but the party/party leadership wants to pass measures such as this. So the individual politicians are accommodated to the extent that they don't interfere with the party passing what it wants.
You see a similar dynamic in quite a lot of votes.
TL;DR: McConnell knows how to count.