USDA Breaks Down Drought Package

Huron, SD—U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) was notified today that the $50 million in new block grant funding will only result in about $3.9 million in aid to South Dakotans. Johnson's proposed aid package, currently a part of the agriculture appropriations bill for the coming year, would yield $100 million for South Dakota alone.

Johnson released the following statement following the announcement of state by state allocations of the grant package:

The USDA promised aid this week, but this is a woefully inadequate gesture to states like South Dakota that have been hit the hardest.

I had hoped the White House would deliver real relief with the sweeping gesture of sending their ag chief to South Dakota. Instead, the White House has essentially told us to pray for rain.

I've called this plan "all hat and no cattle," but today we learned South Dakota won't even get the brim of the hat. While I appreciate that the White House finally recognizes the drought as a disaster, this plan leave our producers empty-handed...again.

"It's worth noting that, when Ag Secretary Johanns was in South Dakota, he correctly stated that we were "the epicenter of the drought." If that's the case, though, then why are we getting less than 25% of the aid that is going to Texas?"

This doesn't begin to cover the financial hurdles producers are facing in South Dakota, and I renew my call on the President to send real disaster aid now. Producers who have suffered for years in a progressively devastating natural disaster are desperate, and continue to look for ways to make ends meet during this devastating drought.

The federal government should step up and find a way to offer help to our nation's producers. It is the least we can do as we have begun to provide assistance to producers in Iraq already.

Though called the "epicenter of the drought" by Secretary Johanns, South Dakota will receive far less than other states eligible for aid. Texas will receive over $14.5 million, and Oklahoma will receive $6 million.

The entire $80 million in aid described by Secretary Johanns while in Hayes, South Dakota, is roughly equal 2% of the package included in the coming year's Agriculture Appropriations bill. That aid has cleared the full Senate Appropriations Committee and is now awaiting consideration by the full Senate. Johnson continues to call on the President to use his executive powers to send substantial aid to the heartland immediately, and offer some relief to the urgent situation producers are facing.

Senator Johnson has toured the drought affected region on several occasions, including a drought tour with Senator John Thune earlier this summer and this week's visit to Hayes, South Dakota, with Ag Secretary Mike Johanns.