[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 5, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5789-S5790]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE DROUGHT IN NEW MEXICO

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I wanted to take a few minutes here to 
bring the Senate up to date on the severe drought that we are 
experiencing in all of the Southwest, but particularly in my home State 
of New Mexico, and also to urge action on a bill that I introduced with 
14 cosponsors recently--the Temporary Emergency Livestock Feed 
Assistance Act of 1996.
  Last week, in Roswell, NM, the newspaper called the Roswell Daily 
Record contained a joke of sorts. It said that a rancher placed five 
calves in a pen because he could not afford to feed them. He knew that 
they would not fetch much if he tried to sell them. He put a sign on 
there saying ``free calves.'' He came back the next day and found 20 
calves in the pen. This a joke, but unfortunately, in New Mexico, the 
drought is no laughing matter. The precipitation levels in my State, 
through the end of May of this year, are 60 to 80 percent below normal.
  In the Albuquerque Journal on May 26, it profiled a ranch owned by 
Shirley Porter. One of the lines of the story summed up the 
circumstances that she faces and says, ``She does not need to worry 
about gates anymore. There is nothing here to get loose. Shirley 
Porter, who is a rancher in San Jon, on the east side of New Mexico, 
sold every last one of her 139 cows, calves, and bulls at a livestock 
auction in Clayton, NM. She was given a total of $30,204.63 for all of 
her livestock. She had come to this ranch as a bride right after high 
school. And now, at the age of 67, she was forced to liquidate. She was 
quoted as saying, ``I am not going to grieve for them''--that is, the 
livestock--``because if I had kept them, they would have starved to 
death.''

[[Page S5790]]

  Every part of New Mexico is affected by this drought, and much of the 
rest of the Southwest as well. In one part of New Mexico, farmers are 
predicting that they will obtain about 1 bushel per acre of wheat. 
Usually the yield is about 45 bushels per acre. To keep the livestock 
alive, ranchers are forced in some cases to burn the thorns off prickly 
pear cacti to give their cattle a little food. Ranchers are having to 
sell off cattle just to pay the interest on the loans that they have, 
and, of course, the cattle market is flooded. Calves that would have 
sold for $125 a year ago now are selling for $10 to $20.
  Fireworks in my State have been banned by our State Corporation 
Commission statewide from now through the 18th of the month. I think 
they are going to consider extending that ban assuming no rain is 
forthcoming; 22 of 33 counties have been declared disaster drought 
areas.
  Let me refer to some charts that I have here, Mr. President, to make 
the point even more graphically. I think these are hard for anyone to 
see from a distance, but perhaps the coloration of the charts will make 
the point.
  As I understand, the Weather Service's main indicator for drought 
areas--severe drought--is the so-called Palmer Index. When you look at 
the Palmer Index for the country as a whole--this is valid through the 
end of March 1996--you can see that much of my State or the majority of 
my State even by the end of March was listed in a severe or extreme 
drought condition. Here again is the drought severity index. This is 
the long-term Palmer Index, which shows the bright red area, which 
shows most of my State and, of course, most of the Presiding Officer's 
State of Arizona listed again as severe or extreme drought. Much of 
Nevada and California as well as much of the Southwestern part of the 
country is affected.
  On U.S. precipitation rankings, again from the Weather Bureau, you 
can see that extremely dry is the bright orange area through the entire 
State of New Mexico and much of the rest of the Southwest as well. This 
final chart is one which tries to show the severity of the fire danger. 
As of May 3, 1996, again it shows virtually all of New Mexico and all 
of Arizona and much of Texas, Colorado, Utah, California, and Nevada.
  So this is a serious problem, Mr. President.
  What I have proposed and what many have joined me in proposing is 
Senate bill 1743, the Temporary Emergency Livestock Feed Assistant Act 
of 1996. The bill would give immediate assistance to ranchers if 
passed. We now have 14 cosponsors of that legislation as of last count. 
We would be putting the livestock feed program back into effect with 
this legislation for a 1-year period. The program was suspended in the 
recently enacted farm bill. This proposed legislation would extend the 
program through 1996.
  Under the bill, producers who have suffered at least a 40-percent 
loss of feed production would be able to apply for assistance through 
their local farm service agencies. The livestock eligible would be 
cattle, sheep, and goats. The old program was funded through the 
Commodity Credit Corporation. We do not propose to do that again. S. 
1743 targets $18 million from the Cottonseed and Sunflower Seed Oil 
Export Assistance Program. I am informed that this is money which is 
not expected to be used this current year. It is money that was 
appropriated but will not be used for that purpose because the need is 
not there.
  In addition, the Department of Agriculture has a stockpile of grain. 
The stockpile, of course, is referred to as the Commodity Reserve 
Program.
  I was encouraged to see that there is a resolution that now has 
passed the House and which is expected to be considered here in the 
Senate very shortly to urge the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
President to go forward with use of that Commodity Reserve Program. 
That is another part of the legislation that we introduced calling on 
the Secretary of Agriculture to report back as to what portion of those 
commodities could appropriately be used to provide assistance to these 
ranchers.
  Mr. President, this is a serious problem. It is not one that has been 
short-lived. We have been living with the drought now for many months 
in the Southwest. Unfortunately, the situation seems to continue. Each 
of my calls back to New Mexico, regardless of what subject I call to 
discuss with people there, begins with a discussion about the drought 
and the lack of rainfall.
  I hope very much that the Senate and the Congress as a whole will go 
ahead and act on this Temporary Emergency Livestock Feed Assistance 
Act. I have talked to the chairman and ranking member of the 
Agriculture Committee and asked them to give attention to this, and 
hopefully we can take action on this in the next few weeks before we 
adjourn for the Fourth of July recess.
  This is the kind of constructive act that I think would encourage 
people in their view of the Congress. There is, of course, a tremendous 
amount of politics being played in Washington these days on all sides. 
Everyone knows that. We are looking for things that we can agree upon 
and constructively pursue. In my view, enactment of this Senate bill 
1743 should be one of those actions that we could take on a bipartisan 
basis which would help the people that we are sent here to represent.
  Mr. President, I urge consideration of this. I encourage any of the 
other Senators or their staffers who may be watching or hearing the 
discussion today who would like to cosponsor the legislation to do so. 
Let me read off a short list of 14 cosponsors before I conclude my 
remarks.
  On the Democratic side, Senators Daschle, Baucus, Dorgan, Exon, and 
Harkin are cosponsors; on the Republican side, my colleague, Senator 
Domenici, Senator Gramm of Texas, Senator Grassley, Senator Hatch, 
Senator Inhofe, Senator Kyl, Senator Pressler, Senator Hutchison, and 
Senator Kassebaum are cosponsors.
  I think this is clearly a bipartisan effort to deal with a very real-
life, immediate situation. I hope very much we can take action on this 
in the next week or two so that relief of some sort at least can be 
provided before the July 4 recess. I will be looking for opportunities 
to move this legislation forward. We cannot legislate rain, but we can 
legislate relief to assist those who are suffering because of the 
drought.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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