This vote was on a motion to kill an amendment by Tom Coburn, D-Okla., that would bar funding in the bill from going to specific lawmakers’ pet projects (often called “earmarks”).  This includes funding for a national tropical botanical garden, a salmon restoration project, a celebration of the 450th anniversary of the city of St. Augustine, Florida, and two others.  The amendment was offered to a bill that would expand wilderness areas and national parks by more than 2 million acres.
Coburn said his office spoke with the mayor of St. Augustine that morning and that her words were “I am really worried about the fiscal nature of this country. I am really worried that we are in real trouble, but I still want my money.”

“Well, the way a republic dies is when the constituency learns they can vote themselves money from the public Treasury regardless of what the overall financial situation of the country is. These are the main earmarks in this bill. The President has said he doesn’t want a bill full of earmarks. This strips them all out. We can either do what the American people want—we can act fiscally responsibly—or we can continue the age-old process of putting our positions ahead of those of the constituents we represent,” Coburn said.

Lawmakers with earmarks under the measure each took to the floor to defend their projects.  Mel Martinez, R-Fla., defended the St. Augustine money, noting that St. Augustine is America’s oldest settlement, established nearly a century before Jamestown was founded.

“Florida is not only going to celebrate this for Florida’s sake, but this is a national celebration. There are over 70 million visitors to our State of Florida every year. Many of them will find their way to St. Augustine, and, of course, countless others throughout and around our country will celebrate this anniversary by seeing the celebrations on television and in other ways,” Martinez said.
The motion was adopted by a vote of 70-27.  All but two Democrats present voted for the motion.  Of Republicans present, 16 voted for the motion and 25 voted against it.  The end result is that the motion was adopted, the amendment was killed, and the bill went forward with its member pet projects intact.