Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Mark Dayton today joined his colleagues in voting for the FY2006 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.4939), which passed the Senate by a vote of 98 to 1. The $94.5 billion spending bill, which provides emergency funds for the Iraq war, hurricane recovery, and avian flu preparation, was approved yesterday by the House. However, a Senate-passed $4 billion aid package, which would have provided relief to farmers struck by natural disasters across the country, was eliminated from the final bill during closed-door House-Senate conference negotiations.

“I reluctantly voted for the Supplemental Appropriation, because its funds are essential to feeding, clothing, and equipping our armed forces,” said Dayton. “However, I deplore the Conference Committee's elimination of the Senate's agriculture disaster relief, which would have provided an estimated $175 million to Minnesota farmers devastated by last year's flooding.”

The Supplemental Appropriations bill provides $70.4 billion for defense and foreign aid, $19.8 billion for hurricane recovery, $2.3 billion for pandemic flu preparation, and $1.9 billion for the National Guard border patrol initiative. Also included is $409 million in agriculture assistance, exclusively for farmers directly impacted by last year’s hurricanes. The bill will now go to the White House for the President’s signature.

In addition, the spending bill includes $400,000 for an ongoing project to keep Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes and other waterways in Minnesota. Asian carp are voracious eaters that can grow to six feet long and weigh 110 pounds. The species could dominate water systems throughout the Great Lakes and eliminate competing species, threatening food supplies for native fisheries and Minnesota’s $4.1 billion sport and commercial fishing industry.

Asian Carp, which eat plankton, were originally brought to the United States as a management tool for aquaculture farms and sewage treatment facilities. As a result of major flooding, those species were released into the Mississippi River, prompting concerns that the fish would move into the Great Lakes. Dayton was a cosponsor of the amendment, introduced by Senators George Voinovich (R-OH) and Barack Obama (D-IL), which provides continued funding for the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Demonstration Barrier, to prevent the Asian Carp population from spreading throughout the Lakes.

“Asian Carp seriously threaten many fish in Minnesota waterways,” said Dayton. “This federal funding is critically important to protecting our state’s lakes, rivers, and fish.”

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