Information about the vote from special interest groups and other information providers in our Report Cards:
Sierra Club
Enforcing Environmental Laws in the Farm Bill.
An amendment to the Farm Bill (S. 1731), offered by Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO), would have allowed the President to override laws, such as the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Air Act, that "...would be likely to have a significant adverse economic impact on or jeopardize the safety of agricultural producers...." The motion to table the amendment passed.League of Conservation Voters
Regulatory Waivers.
In September the House passed a bill to reauthorize farm programs, including farm conservation programs such as the Wetlands Reserve program. When the Senate took up Senator Harkin’s farm bill (S. 1731) in December, opponents attempted to stall the bill by refusing to vote to cut off debate and by offering a number of controversial amendments.
During floor debate on the Harkin farm bill, Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) introduced a broadly-worded amendment that would have given the Secretary of Agriculture new powers to review, and the President sweeping new powers to block, virtually any federal agency proposal that they determined would be "likely to have a significant adverse economic impact on or jeopardize the personal safety of agricultural producers". In the only restriction on this broad exercise of discretion, the President could not block any agency proposal needed to protect public health or national security.
Granting the executive branch such broad and vague mandates would have put at risk virtually every area of the law which currently affects agriculture, including policies and regulations to protect endangered species, clean up rivers and bays, protect wetlands, regulate pesticides, and protect farm workers' health.
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) offered a motion to table (or kill) the Bond amendment. The Senate agreed to the Reid motion. The Senate failed to pass S. 1731 before adjourning for the year, and will have to take up the legislation when they reconvene in 2002.
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Regulatory Reform/Oppose Weakening Environmental Protections.
During floor debate on the Senate farm bill, Sen. Bond (R-MO) offered an amendment to allow the secretary of agriculture to weaken environmental protections if they were likely to affect profits for agribusiness. This amendment could have given agricultural interests a powerful tool to weaken many important environmental laws including those that protect clean water, wetlands and endangered species. The Senate voted 54-43 to table (kill) the Bond amendment.