A bill to get the historic Delta Queen plying the rivers again sailed through the U.S. House, but it was blocked in the Senate in the closing days of this year's Congressional session.
Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Ben Cardin, D-Md., cited concerns by the U.S. Coast Guard on whether the boat might be a fire trap.
Ohio's senators had worked to get the bill passed in an effort to move it from Coolidge Park in Chattanooga to a new mooring in Cincinnati.
Cornel Martin has been leading a group raising money to buy the Delta Queen and return it as an operating riverboat.
It earlier lost its exemption allowing it to continue operating.
The Delta Queen has been a floating hotel in Chattanooga, but has been shut down in recent months while needing extensive repairs.
City officials have given several extensions on mooring rights along the downtown riverfront.