Johnson Pushes Again for Drought Assistance as Senate Prepares to Wrap Up Work

Washington, DC— As the Senate Majority Leader prepares to adjourn the Senate in preparation for the November elections, U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) joined a bipartisan group of farm state Senators to push for agriculture disaster assistance before time runs out.

Johnson was a cosponsor of S.3991, a revised version of the agriculture disaster bill that was aimed at addressing many of the concerns held by the White House. The streamlined bill retains all the provisions of S. 3855, legislation that Johnson has already cosponsored this Congress for 2005 and 2006 losses, except that it deletes the economic assistance package, including supplemental direct payments. It also brings the cost down to roughly $4.9 billion.

Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), the lead sponsor of the legislation, asked that the bill be brought up for consideration, but the bill was objected to, thus stopping the assistance from moving forward.

Johnson went to the Senate floor this afternoon to deliver the following remarks and plead that disaster assistance be taken up immediately:

"When I traveled the state this summer with Senator Thune, we saw areas where there was corn that was perhaps six inches high with no ears. Other areas, you'd have to get out of the pickup and kick the dust to tell what had been planted. Farming and ranching operations that are good operations and have been in the family for generations are in great jeopardy.

So I'm here today to share my support for getting on with disaster relief. Now the Senate already passed disaster relief for the 2005 drought as part of the Supplemental Appropriations bill. Unfortunately, when it went to the House, the ag portion of it was largely stripped out.

There is a lack of regard for the crisis that exists in rural America. The Administration is talking about rebuilding Iraqi agriculture in rural communities. Well, that's fine, but we have American farmers and ranchers in American main streets that need some attention. That need for attention is urgent. And so what we have here is a drought bill that would cost about the equivalent of what we spend every two weeks in Iraq for the entire nation for the entire year for multiple drought years.

We're at the final shred of time left in this Congress. This is our last remaining hope to get this done, and it's my hope that we can set aside the partisan politics and appreciate that the losses being sustained are losses that are happening to American farmers and ranchers and American main streets. It needs an American response. If we pull together in this body, I am confident that we will, in fact, make some progress.

There still is time, but we must act now. I urge USDA, the White House, and our friends in House to recognize the critical need for attention to this catastrophic string of drought years that our farmers and ranchers and main streets are facing."

Emergency Farm Relief Act of 2006

S. 3991

Summary of Key Components

Production Loss Subtitle --

· Covers both the 2005 and 2006 production years.

· Emergency funding -- no budget offsets

· Elimination of the 95% cap on projected crop income and deductions for crop insurance and residual crop values.

· Production loss threshold at 35% and payment rate at 50% of the established price. Similar to prior disaster programs for insured and uninsurable crops. 35% for insurable crops that were not covered by the producer.

· Clarified quality loss provisions to apply actual market discounts realized by producers. Quality loss payments at 50% of per unit loss times 65% of production.

· Provides separate disaster assistance programs for sugar beets.

· Establishes a Livestock Compensation Program to help cover increased feed expenses for producers in disaster counties designated by the Secretary of Agriculture.

· Provides livestock indemnity payments for livestock losses due to hurricanes, floods, wildfires and anthrax.

· Provides $13 million for a Ewe Lamb Replacement Program.

· Provides $2 million for bovine tuberculosis herd indemnification.

· Prohibits "double dipping".

Small Business Economic Grant Program --

· Provides $300 million in economic assistance grants for small businesses who suffered material economic losses as a result of weather related agricultural losses.

Conservation --

· Provides $70 million for current emergency needs for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program.

· Provides $30 million in funding to address current emergency needs of the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP).

· Provides $200 million in additional funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

Farm Service Agency --

· Funds additional personnel for the Farm Service Agency county offices to implement the disaster assistance program.