[BCNnet] Senate Farm Bill Conference - unacceptable -- please call!

[Donald R. Dann]

Dear BCNnet friend of conservation;
The plight of grassland birds is well known to us all.  However, in recent
years, a few species has begun to do better, such as the Henslow's Sparrow.
In large part due this has been due to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP
and CREP), a provision of the Farm Bill that pays farmers to replace
marginal farmlands by setting aside their land for conservation.

Currently the Farm Bill is being reauthorized and we have an opportunity to
make enormous strides for bird conservation by urging the House/Senate
conferees to adopt key conservation provisions and funding from the Senate
Bill.
I received the following from a friend at Environmental Defense.  If we
engage in the same effort we did on ANWR, we can accomplish as much.  Please
call (at least) Senators Daschle, 202-224-2321, and Harkin, 202-224-9369, on
Monday, 4-22-02, and urge them to immediately reinstate funding for the key
conservation programs in the bill.  See the following for the details.  Many
thanks,

Donald
Donald R. Dann
60 Ravinoaks Lane
Highland Park, IL 60035
Ph/Fax: 847-266-2222
Email:  donniebird@yahoo.com



Things are going south on the conservation title of the Farm Bill and we
desperately need help from you to get the Senate conferees to fight for more
funding for key conservation programs.  On April 19, the Senate members of
the Farm Bill conference committee presented a conservation title offer to
the House Farm Bill conferees that is totally unacceptable.  The proposal
dramatically cuts many key programs, with the very popular and
oversubscribed Farmland Protection Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives
Program, and Water Conservation Program taking the hardest hits. Compared to
the original Senate Farm Bill, these important programs to curb urban
sprawl, help farmers stay in farming, and protect wildlife habitat and
imperiled species have been cut by 50-60 percent.  Also, the Senate proposal
misses a key opportunity to increase conservation funding. On April 18, the
House of Representatives voted 265-158 to direct its conferees to accept the
original Senate language on payment limitations and to direct a portion of
the $1 billion in savings from that provision to
conservation. By failing to increase conservation funding from $17.1 billion
over ten years to at least $18 billion, the Senate has effectively taken a
position favoring lower conservation spending than what is supported by the
vast majority of the House. Also, the strength of the Senate bill's original
$4.4 billion per year conservation title was a main reason why it passed the
Senate in the first place. Senate conferees must not go against what the
majority in both the House and Senate want in the final Farm Bill.

We really need your help now. Please call Senate members of the Farm Bill
conference committee, and Senators Daschle and Harkin in particular (even if
they are not your Senators). Tell them the Senate proposal on conservation
of April 19 is totally unacceptable and that the Senate conferees must
immediately reinstate funding for key conservation programs like the
Farmland Protection Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and the
water conservation program.

Contact information and talking points follow.

Please contact me if you have questions.

THANKS!!

Suzy

Suzy Friedman
Environmental Defense
202-387-3500 x3376 (v)
sfriedman@environmentaldefense.org
www.privatelandstewardship.org

Contact info for Senate Farm Bill Conferees:

Tom Harkin (D-IA), 202-224-9369
Patrick Leahy (D-VT), 202-224-4242
Kent Conrad (D-ND), 202-224-2043
Tom Daschle (D-SD), 202-224-2321
Richard Lugar (R-IN), 202-224-4814
Thad Cochran (R-MS), 202-224-5054
Jesse Helms (R-NC), 202-224-6342

TALKING POINTS:
I am very concerned that the Senate has presented an unacceptable
conservation title offer to the Farm Bill conferees.

The Senate's latest offer asks for a smaller investment in conservation
than is favored by the vast majority of members the House. On April 18, the
House voted 265-158 to cap subsidy payments and direct the $1 billion in
savings in part to conservation programs. The Senate proposal fails to
seize this opportunity to increase funding for conservation.
The Senate should immediately revise its proposal to direct $1 billion in
savings from payment caps to conservation programs, providing at least $18
billion in new conservation funding over ten years.
The Senate's offer proposes sharp and unacceptable cuts in environmentally
valuable programs, particularly the Farmland Protection Program, Wildlife
Habitat Incentives Program, and Water Conservation Program.

Compared to the original Senate Farm Bill, these important programs to halt
urban sprawl, help farmers stay in farming, and protect wildlife habitat
and imperiled species have been cut by 50 to 60 percent.

I urge you to reallocate any funding cuts more fairly between the
conservation programs and to utilize the savings from the payment
limitation program to boost overall conservation spending and substantially
raise investment in the Farmland Protection Program, Wildlife Habitat
Incentives Program, Water Conservation Program, and Conservation Reserve
Program.
Finally, I urge you to hold firm to a five-year Farm Bill, as was approved
by the full Senate in February.  A seven-year bill would reduce the
per-year investment and would have a devastating effect on conservation
objectives.
The original Senate Farm Bill included far greater commodity spending than
is wise for the environment or taxpayers, but its conservation program gave
it some balance. But in negotiation the Senate has allowed its conservation
spending to dwindle unacceptably.

You can still deliver a conservation title worthy of support by directing
to conservation some of the funds saved by the payment limitation and by
re-allocating cuts from the original Senate bill.  Both measures should be
undertaken in a way that directs substantial increases to Farmland
Protection Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, Water Conservation
Program, and Conservation Reserve Program.




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