WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An energy bill that would require automakers to raise average fuel economy standards hit a roadblock Friday in the Senate, but senators vowed to work over the weekend to find a way to advance the legislation.
The House-passed bill requires automakers to increase fuel standards by 40 percent by 2020.
A procedural vote on the bill failed 53-42, seven votes short of the 60 needed for the bill to advance. Republicans objected to $21 billion in new taxes contained in the bill.
The legislation, which the House of Representatives passed 235-181 Thursday night, would be the first major increase in fuel economy standards in more than 30 years.
It would require automakers to raise their "corporate average fuel economy," or CAFE, standards by 40 percent to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Supporters say that would result in significant fuel savings.
The current standard -- 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 22.2 for trucks -- was passed in 1975.
Senators said the bill's failure to overcome the procedural hurdle did not mean the legislation was dead.
"This doesn't mark the end of this bill," said Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "It means we have to go to work to fix some of the problems that the House bill has generated for us."
The panel's Democratic chairman, Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, said he saw some changes to the legislation "that can make this bill acceptable to a vast majority of senators." Bingaman said he thought a new version could be brought to the floor next week.
A senior Democratic aide said the next vote on the energy bill likely will occur Tuesday.
The auto industry and many Republicans support the bill's new CAFE standards, but the taxes contained in the bill complicate its prospects for passage in the Senate. The bill would repeal billions of tax subsidies, including $13 billion for the nation's five largest oil companies.
The bill also includes a mandate that electric utility companies generate 15 percent of their energy from renewable sources such as wind, biomass or solar power by 2020.
The White House has threatened to veto the bill. The president's chief economic adviser, Allan Hubbard, wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, this week, citing the renewable electricity mandate and taxes as unacceptable. E-mail to a friend 
CNN's Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.
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