With nearly 40 percent of our country's threatened or endangered wildlife found only on private lands, the management of those lands by farmers, ranchers, and foresters will determine the future of many of these species. The voluntary conservation programs funded through the five-year farm bill are critical to these efforts. Yet, because of chronic underfunding, these programs have to turn away most of the farmers who want to enroll in them.

During floor debate of the 2007 farm bill, Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) offered an amendment to cap farm subsidies and to channel nearly $100 million of the resulting savings into the Grasslands Reserve Program and the Farmland Protection Program. The amendment would have closed loopholes that allow industrial-scale megafarms to collect seven-figure government checks.

Although a nearly identical amendment was passed in 2002, it was not included in the final version of the farm bill. During consideration of the 2007 farm bill, Senate rules required 60 votes to pass the Dorgan-Grassley amendment. On December 13, 2007, the amendment failed by a vote of 56-43 (Senate roll call vote 424). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.