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Agriculture Disaster Assistance

For the past two years, farmers and ranchers in North Dakota have had some challenging growing seasons. Although last year was a better growing season than years past for many producers in North Dakota, farmers in some parts of our state still faced extremely wet conditions and the challenges of prevented planting, quality losses, and crop losses. And even producers blessed with good weather still had to deal with record high input costs for their fuel and fertilizer. This year, extremely hot temperatures and a serious drought have killed off crops and forced ranchers to sell off their herds because of a lack of feed.

I, and the rest of the North Dakota Congressional delegation, have pressed USDA to take immediate actions to help producers who are suffering from drought, including the immediate opening of Conservation Reserve Program land. And as soon as the difficulties faced by North Dakota’s family farmers and ranchers became clear last summer, Senator Conrad and I introduced agricultural disaster assistance legislation.

In December, I pushed for an agricultural disaster package on a major spending bill. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives rejected my call for disaster relief. But I was not ready to give up on the fight for North Dakota’s farm families.

In early April, I offered an amendment in the Senate Appropriations Committee to provide a $3.9 billion agricultural disaster package for farmers and ranchers around the country. I was very pleased when the Committee accepted my amendment unanimously. My amendment was attached to emergency legislation to fund on–going military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to help residents of the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I, and other farm state Senators, successfully fought off attempts to remove the farm relief funding, and on May 4, 2006, the full Senate approved this legislation, with the agriculture disaster package intact.

Unfortunately, President Bush threatened to veto this spending bill unless the disaster aid was taken out. I don’t understand his opposition to helping producers when they need assistance so badly. I fought to keep the disaster package intact, but in the end, the President and the House leadership decided to help only producers in the Gulf Coast who were hit by hurricanes, and they turned a blind eye to weather–related farm disasters that occurred in other parts of the country.

But, I have not given up. When the Senate Appropriations Committee started work on the 2007 Agriculture Appropriations bill, I once again added the farm disaster package as an amendment. And, once again, my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee accepted my amendment. I don’t know when the Senate will debate the spending bill that contains my farm disaster package, or whether this will have a better chance of success than my previous two attempts to get this done. I realize that, unless the President changes his mind and supports our efforts, this will be an uphill battle. But I believe it is worth another try, because there are a lot of producers in North Dakota and across rural America who desperately need this help.