1993 Scorecard Vote
During the same debate on EPA Cabinet elevation, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) attempted to add an amendment to, among other things, give the Soil Conservation Service sole authority to decide which agricultural lands should be classified as wetlands. At the time of this vote, the official definition of lands as wetlands to be protected under the Clean Water Act was a lengthy process involving both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. Giving power to the Soil Conservation Service, already infamous for failing to properly identify and protect wetlands, would undermine their protection on agricultural lands. Furthermore, Bond's amendment would exempt certain wetlands from protection under the Clean Water Act.
Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT), with support from Sen. John Chafee (R-RI), moved to include his own secondary amendment to the Bond amendment to require an assessment of the best way to transfer this authority to the Soil Conservation Service, rather than a blanket authorization and Clean Water Act exemption. Then Sen. Bond attempted to table (kill) the Baucus amendment to his amendment. This motion was rejected by a vote of 40-54 on May 4, 1993 and the Baucus proposal was accepted. NO is the pro-environmental vote.
(Unfortunately, following our environmental victory on the Senate floor, President Clinton subsequently used his executive authority to designate the Soil Conservation Service as the sole agency with the authority to determine which agricultural lands should be classified as wetlands.)