FRESH from the Senate Floor

Voting on key farm bill amendments started today.  If you are a complete political junky (like some of us here at Bread), you may be following the debate on CSPAN2.  If not, kudos to you for doing something worthwhile with your time! =)  In all seriousness, votes were taken about 20 minutes ago on the FRESH Amendment, co-sponsored by Senators Lugar and Lautenberg. 

The amendment failed by 58 votes, but 37 senators voted to pass the measure.  Honestly, we were quite stunned that 37 senators voted yes - we didn't expect nearly that many. To have this many senators vote yes is a small victory - even if the amendment failed. 

To see how your senator voted, click here. 

I plan on sending a thank you note to both my senators - Boxer and Feinstein.  I'm absolutely amazed that they voted in support of FRESH.  It's testament to the amazing advocacy of partner organizations, anti-hunger advocates in California and Bread for the World activists. These groups sent countless letters, made hundreds of phone calls and raised awareness in their local newspapers about the impact of the farm bill in California.  Kudos to everyone who took action!

We'll keep you posted on the outcome of Dorgan-Grassley and Brown-Sununu.  Bread sent out a press release about the FRESH Amendment vote.  Read the full release here.

Comments

[Raicheal Sutherland]

Thanks for the update, Holly! I'm writing thank-you notes, too. Do we know whether better outcomes for Dorgan-Grassley and Brown-Sununu are likely?