All the scientific evidence she's seen from actual biologists at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game shows that Idaho's wolf population is declining, Rubel said.

For instance, officials say there were 683 wolves in the state at the end of 2012 and preliminary numbers for 2013 point to populations falling below 600, following a successful season of hunting and trapping.

Rubel pointed out that a state advisory group tasked with developing wolf-control alternatives last year only asked for $400,000 — not $2 million that's in this bill.

"The numbers are on a downward trajectory," Rubel said during floor debate. "In light of that number, I don't see the justification to give five times the amount requested when we have 39 school districts that can't keep the lights on five days a week."

Wolves in Idaho, ever since the days of their reintroduction in 1995, have been a sore spot, with many complaining they were foisted upon the state by the federal government over objections from ranchers and others.

The rangy predators were removed from the list of species shielded by the Endangered Species Act by Congress in 2011, and Idaho is now in charge of managing them at a level where the federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't intervene to reintroduce protections.