Senate Passes Encouraging Farm Bill

On June 28 the Senate passed (86-11) a bipartisan Farm Bill that is free of attacks on the environment. The passage of a clean Senate bill is an important step forward, but we are not out of the woods yet as a conference committee still needs to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills.

The Senate’s work has just begun,
as they begin meeting with the House to come to a resolution.

The bipartisan Senate bill rejected numerous attacks on our national forest and public lands that were present in the House Farm Bill. That bill narrowly passed just last week by a vote of 213-211 (with no Democratic votes and 20 Republicans voting against it).  We will continue to fight those attacks as the Senate and House begin negotiating a final package. The attacks include opening millions of acres of roadless national forests to potential roads, and dismantling environmental laws that protect natural resources and grant the public a voice in the management of our public lands.

The passage of the Senate bill is an important win for our public lands, keeping anti-public lands provisions/riders off major pieces of legislation. Add in the fact that it designates 26,000 acres of wilderness and reauthorizes the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) while doubling its funding, and we find this to be a very positive bill. And it includes a clean water-focused Watershed Condition Framework! What’s not to love?

Thank your Senators today for rejecting attacks on public lands in the Farm Bill.