{mosads}First, the Senate voted on an amendment by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) that was essentially a counter to an amendment by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) to cut off U.S. food aid to North Korea. The Kerry-Lugar amendment was approved in a vote of 59 to 40, and Kyl’s amendment failed 43 to 56.

An amendment by Sen. Tom Udall (D-Colo.), which increased funding to fight insect and disease epidemics in forests, was approved in a decisive vote of 77 to 22. An amendment by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) repealing the forest legacy program failed in a vote of 21 to 77.