©2025 League of Conservation Voters
2012 Scorecard Vote
234
191
7
Issues
Representative James Lankford (R-OK) offered an amendment to H.R. 5972, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013, which would undermine certain protections for cliff and barn swallows under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The amendment would prohibit the Transportation Department from using funds to implement the MBTA or an Executive Order that directs federal agencies to integrate bird conservation measures into agency activities. In doing so, it would deny funding for protective measures for swallows, such as the placement of netting to prevent the establishment of nests, and would establish the dangerous precedent of rolling back the MBTA for individual species to benefit special interests. On June 29, the House approved the Lankford amendment by a vote of 234-191 (House roll call vote 447). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. H.R. 5972 subsequently passed the House, but the Senate took no action on this legislation and the amendment was not included in the spending measure maintaining current funding levels for the federal government through March 27, 2013, which President Obama signed into law on September 28.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters