[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 103 (Thursday, July 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7378-S7379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. Burns, Mr. Daschle, and Mr. 
        Johnson):
  S. 2800. A bill to provide emergency disaster assistance to 
agricultural producers; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, on March 28, 2002, Secretary Veneman 
declared Montana a drought disaster. This drought designation came two 
months earlier than in 2001, and eight months earlier than in 2000.
  The unrelenting drought Montana is suffering has brought economic 
hardship to our agriculture producers and rural communities. In 1996, 
the year before the drought, Montana received $847 million in cash 
receipts from wheat sales. In 2001, four years into the drought, 
Montana received $317 million in cash receipts, a 62 percent decline.
  Agriculture is more than 50 percent of my State's economy, and is 
truly the backbone of my State. The drought not only affects our 
farmers and ranchers. It is felt throughout our rural communities. 
Small businesses are being forced to close their doors. Families are 
moving away to find work. It would be virtually impossible to find a 
single person who has not been either directly or indirectly affected 
by the dry conditions that we have.
  Without our help, without passing natural disaster assistance, it is 
estimated that 40 percent of Montana's farmers and ranchers will not 
qualify for operating loans for the 2002 crop year. A large percentage 
of these hardworking people will lose their land, their homes, their 
jobs, and their way of life. They will not be purchasing clothes, seed, 
feed, fertilizer, or equipment in their local stores. They will have to 
move, take their kids out of school. Small towns will die.
  It is unfortunate that farmers and ranchers from Montana have to 
suffer the effects of prolonged drought without Federal assistance 
because disaster was not as wide spread in 2001 as it has been in 2002. 
The farmers and ranchers who suffered from severe drought in 2001 
should not be penalized, rather rewarded for their persistence and 
dedication to Montana's vital industry. We desperately need cooperation 
and support from all sides to prove relief to our producers that have 
struggled through dry conditions for so long. We need disaster 
assistance immediately and we need to provide extra assistance for 
those who have endured drought in 2001 and 2002. It is time to take 
action and to provide for those who have produced so many vital 
resources for the people of the United States.
  I am disappointed that we have not been able to produce legislation 
that is much needed and long overdue to benefit the hard working 
farmers and ranchers of the state of Montana and across the country. 
Many of the agricultural producers in Montana who have worked the same 
land for generations will no longer be able to survive as farmers or 
ranchers without disaster relief. Consecutive years of drought have 
caused economic devastation that soon prevent these agricultural 
producers from doing their jobs. The effects of this cycle will be 
devastating to the economy and the people of my state.
  Unfortunately natural disaster is no longer an issue for just a few 
States. As of July 22, forty-nine of 50 States are impacted by drought 
and 36 percent of our country is currently classified as some level of 
drought. This is an issue that can no longer be ignored.
  I am pleased today to introduce with Senator Burns a natural disaster 
package that will provide assistance to producers who have had losses 
due to natural disasters in 2001 and 2002. It also includes funding for 
2001 and 2001 for the Livestock Assistance Program and the American 
Indian Livestock Feed Program. The package that we introduce today is 
the same policy that 69 of my Senate Colleagues supported when Senator 
Enzi and I offered the amendment to the Farm Bill but extended to cover 
the 2002 crop year as well.
  It is true that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has utilized the 
tools that they have available to them. Access to low interest loans, 
grazing and haying on CRP acreage are important pieces to ensuring that 
our producers stay in business. However, there is still one major piece 
of the puzzle missing and that is natural disaster assistance.
  It is also true that crop insurance is a very important risk 
management tool. I supported the crop insurance reform bill and I 
support and understand the importance of crop insurance. More than 90 
percent of insurable acres in Montana are insured. Unfortunately for 
the program to be run in an actuarially sound fashion, producers are 
helped the least when they hurt the most. When a producer is suffering 
from consecutive years of drought, their premium increases and their 
coverage decreases.
  We have the opportunity to stop that process. To keep our rural 
communities and economies alive. Rural America is resilient. And like 
them, I will not give up. Thousands of people are suffering from a 
relentless drought. They deserve natural disaster assistance and I will 
continue to fight to ensure they get it.
  I am pleased to be working with my fellow Senator from Montana, and I 
ask each of my Senate colleagues to join us in this effort.
  Mr. BURNS. Madam President, I rise today to express my support of the 
Emergency Disaster Assistance Act of 2002. I am proud to join my 
colleague from Montana, Senator Baucus, in introducing this 
legislation.
  However, more importantly I rise today in support of America's 
farmers and ranchers. In my home State of Montana, we are looking at 
our fifth summer of severe drought. Many places in my great State are 
drying up and blowing away. Dirt fills the ditches alongside the roads 
and so many tumbleweeds clog the fences. I fear this may be the case 
for much of the West and Midwest after this summer.
  This legislation would provide much needed relief to those farmers 
and ranchers hit the hardest by the drought. Many have argued the Farm

[[Page S7379]]

Bill adequately met the needs of those earning their living in 
agriculture. I disagree. The Farm Bill provides economic assistance, 
but not weather related disaster assistance.
  In fact, it does not help farmers ``when times are tough,'' and the 
drought conditions of the past several years indicate that these are 
indeed very difficult times. The very reason I am requesting drought 
assistance is precisely because this farm bill does not sufficiently 
meet the needs of those farmers who have suffered loss due to natural 
conditions during the past 4 years. I believe the farmers in the most 
extreme situations are the very ones we should be helping.
  I am committed to working with my colleagues to get this much-needed 
assistance out to our rural areas, to the places that need it the most. 
I am also committed to doing this in the most responsible way possible. 
I believe we can reach an agreement and find a realistic amount that 
helps producers, yet is fiscally responsible.

                          ____________________