Environmental groups are up in arms over an amendment filed by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain that could lower federal farm conservation spending by billions of dollars over the next decade.

The amendment to the "minibus" currently being debated on the Senate floor would strike a provision that extends farm bill conservation programs until 2014. By doing so, it would ensure that the $726 million proposed cut to conservation programs this year would be repeated each year in the next 10-year farm bill.

"It is a huge threat because it could affect funding moving forward," said Aviva Glaser, agriculture policy coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation.

It remains to be seen whether Senate leaders will allow a vote on McCain's measure.

The Senate agriculture appropriations bill is one of a trio of bills being debated as a package on the Senate floor this week. The "minibus" legislation would set the fiscal 2012 budgets for the Agriculture Department; Commerce, Justice and Science; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.

The agriculture bill proposes a 12 percent, or $726 million, cut to mandatory spending on conservation programs, which include the Conservation Reserve Program, Conservation Stewardship Program and Environment Quality Incentives Program. These programs help farmers make environmental improvements on their lands and set aside acres for conservation.

McCain's amendment is meant to address a "flawed" appropriations process, according to a description of the amendment from his spokesperson.

Under a Congressional Budget Office scoring rule, the money appropriated for mandatory conservation programs in the last year of a farm bill becomes the baseline funding for programs in the next farm bill.

Because the 2008 farm bill expires next year, the fiscal 2012 appropriations would set the baseline for the 10-year life of the new farm bill.

But Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) included a measure that extends mandatory programs by two years when writing the appropriations bill. A similar provision was included in the House bill passed earlier this year.

McCain's amendment would remove that provision, lowering the starting point for the new farm bill and reducing conservation programs by billions of dollars over the 10-year life of the new farm bill.

"These programs are scheduled to expire in 2012, along with all of the other farm bill programs, but the minibus would extend them into 2014," said the description from McCain's office. "It is a violation of Senate rules ... to legislate or reauthorize programs in an appropriations bill."

"This amendment was filed not in opposition to any particular farm bill conservation programs but is meant to draw attention to how flawed the appropriations process has become," the description continues. "Farm bills are among the most egregious and wasteful pieces of legislation that Congress develops."

Two conservation programs that do not have baseline funding for next year, the Wetlands Reserve Program and the Grasslands Reserve Program, would still be eliminated.

McCain has also filed an amendment that limits funding for ethanol infrastructure (Greenwire, Oct. 18).