Contact: Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Thursday, May 22, 2003

WASHINGTON, DC –– Missouri Senator Kit Bond today asked for an additional $1.2 million in supplemental emergency funds for the Corps of Engineers facility in Stockton, Missouri, which was devastated by the tornados that swept Missouri in early May.

"The Corps of Engineer's Stockton Lake Project is a major cornerstone of the Stockton area economy. The Project's administration/visitor center and maintenance facilities sustained heavy damage, with the administration building a total loss. While I was visiting Stockton, it was clear that the Community is concerned about the upcoming tourism season and the full, uninterrupted availability of the Project facilities."

Bond, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee asked his colleague, Senator Pete Domenici, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Appropriations, to include $1.2 million in additional supplemental emergency funds in the fiscal year 2004 Energy and Waters Appropriations Bill for the Corps of Engineer's Stockton Lake Project.

"Recently, I toured the devastation in several Missouri communities. Throughout my career as a public servant, I have never personally witnessed this level of destruction. Stockton, Missouri is one of the many communities which Mother Nature targeted with her fury and this small, southwest Missouri city was one of the hardest hit. The citizens in that community are still mourning, but they are resolute. I saw the tears of those who lost their homes and businesses, but I also saw the fire of determination burning bright through those tears."

Since the tornados swept through Missouri, Bond has worked to speed the federal government's response to Missouri tornado victims – securing a federal disaster declaration for a number of tornado-struck counties and communities. Also, Bond spoke personally with the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez and shortly thereafter, that agency accelerated the delivery of $64 million to Kansas City and the State of Missouri. Bond also asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to make available an emergency allocation to the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) Tornado fund and to authorize the Missouri state and county Farm Service Agency offices to begin collecting requests for funds.

Kit Bond is Missouri’s senior Senator and is now in his third term after having served the state previously during two terms as Governor.