Where do we go from here?

It was good news for David Letterman today as the senate passed a status quo farm bill.  As many of you know, all reform amendments were defeated yesterday.  Grassley/Dorgan and the Klobuchar amendment would have limited payments to the wealthiest farmers.  It is clear that special interests got in the way of reform.  See how your senator voted on Grassley/Dorgan here.

Where do we go from here?  2 steps to follow-up senate action on the farm bill

1) Learn more about how your member of congress voted and why.

The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition sent out a "flip-flop" list of senators who supported Grassley/Dorgan in the past but not this time. The coalition said the senators who voted for it in 2002 and again in 2005, but not today were Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio. The coalition also said that Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., voted for it in 2005 but not today. The following senators voted for it in 2002 but not this year: Robert Bennett, R-Utah, Jim Bunning, R-Ky., Larry Craig, R-Idaho, Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, Minority Leader McConnell, Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

Read Bread Press Release: Senate Votes to Maintain Payments to Large Landowners
Check out this resource: Analysis of what happened from Bread
How would the future president vote on these amendments?  Read a post from Cindy's Anti-Poverty Blog - a Bread activist from Illinois.

2) Take Action. Get Fired Up!
  Send your senators holiday cards, either expressing your gratitude for their support of a fair farm bill or expressing your disappointment that they blocked much-needed reforms that would have benefited hungry people.