[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 129 (Wednesday, November 15, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10957-S10959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      DISASTER RELIEF FOR FARMERS

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, as this interregnum continues, as we wait 
for some kind of resolution--we were told an hour and a half ago that 
would be forthcoming in 45 minutes--I wanted to read a letter I 
received from a young farm family that had been hit by one of the 
disasters I had referenced earlier. This family is from Souris, ND. It 
was a letter that was written to me last year about the extraordinary 
rains. This is what the father of the family wrote:

       The rains began in earnest the last days of May 2005. Our 
     crops were in the ground so the majority of the input costs 
     for the crops

[[Page S10958]]

     were already realized. We received 25 inches in 33 days and 
     the attached pictures show the result. In our local town 
     residents were going up and down the streets in boats.
       We did our very best to cope with expenses but with the 
     increased energy prices and the loss of crop income we and 
     all the other producers in our area lost the battle. Our farm 
     had financial reversals in the amount of $110,000. We carry 
     crop insurance but this program does not begin to cover our 
     risks.
       In speaking with loan officers at 2 of our local banks I 
     was told that First National expects to restructure 60% of 
     their Ag. Loans and State Bank estimated 75%-80%. This is 
     serious business in agriculture.
       We have felt the seriousness of the disasters in the South 
     from last year's hurricanes and we have urged our delegation 
     to support help for them. However our area was understandably 
     off everyone's radar screen yet we had the devastation here 
     as well.
       Concerns abound as we look to the future. As I look out my 
     window to the west I see a field that we have seeded since my 
     grandfather homesteaded here in 1892. For the first time we 
     will not be able to seed it. It is 120 acres with about 60 
     acres still under water from last summer. The Federal 
     Government has placed a heavy burden on us by declaring our 
     area as a Prairie Pot Hole Region. This means I cannot drain 
     this excess water into a nearby drainage system. I am stuck 
     with it. How do I begin to recover the financial losses 
     mentioned above when the Government Regulations limit those 
     opportunities? The water is to the top of the road on both 
     sides and now after being this way for close to a year the 
     road is saturated and just about ruined. I just spoke with a 
     township supervisor and they feel they will be closing the 
     road because of liability concerns.
       We are asking that you come along side us and help us 
     through this impossible situation that has been presented to 
     us by a combination of nature and government regulations. 
     Please support the Disaster Relief Appropriation currently 
     working its way through Congress. If you do, you will 
     literally be the difference between many being able to 
     continue to produce food and fiber for this great nation and 
     not being able to continue this production.
       Thank you so much for listening to part of our story.

  This gentleman included pictures. I don't think these are pictures 
that can be seen on camera, but I will hold them up and describe them. 
These are six different pictures. In some of them, there is water from 
horizon to horizon. Here we see a view that would go for miles and 
miles. There is water everywhere. This is what happened last year over 
much of my State--as I indicated earlier, a million acres that could 
not even be planted, another 600,000 acres where the crops were drowned 
out. Now this year, as I have said before, irony of ironies, the worst 
drought since the 1930s. Land I have been on many times in my life 
south of my hometown is like a moonscape--nothing growing, just dirt; 
land that had been planted and nothing even emerged.
  To understand what happened, this is the weather for the month of 
July in my State. Bismarck, ND, is the State capital. It started out 
with a day at 90 degrees; the next day, 92. Then right after July 4 it 
went over 90 degrees the next 2 days. Then it jumped up to 102, and 
then it was 97. The next week, 96, and then it was 101, 105, 94, 101, 
105, 106. This is not heat index. These were the actual temperatures. 
Then we had kind of a cooling, and it got into the 80s. Then on the 
22nd it jumped back up to 96, 97, 96, 90s all these days, 99, 97, and 
then the real corker, on the 30th of July, 112 degrees. That is really 
hot. I had friends who went out and drove south of my hometown that day 
who told me it was so hot it took your breath away, 112 degrees. I am 
not talking heat index or any of that; I am talking the actual 
temperature.
  The crops just burned up. During this period, there was no 
precipitation--no precipitation, no precipitation, no precipitation 
that whole week, no precipitation this entire week, no precipitation 
until the 19th. In fact, not a drop until the 19th of July, and then 
there was 7/100th, then there was 32/100th, then no precipitation, none 
for the next period going through the end of the month. So from the 
21st to the 31st, not another drop of precipitation. Meanwhile, 101, 
105, 106, 112 degrees. This is why the disaster is so serious, a 
combination of virtually no precipitation--for this whole month, there 
was 39/100th of an inch of precipitation--and day after day, 90 and 100 
degrees. The crops just burned up.
  We can say: Tough luck, you are out of here, but that is not what we 
have done in the past. In the past, going back to 1989, we had the 
disaster assistance bill, $3.4 billion. In 1990, we had disaster 
assistance. Every year with the exception of 1991, right through 2005.
  Disaster assistance in 2000 was $14.8 billion. The next year it was 
$11.3 billion. This disaster package is $4.5 billion for 2 years, so it 
is dramatically less. Obviously, that is a result of more widespread 
disasters, perhaps, in those years, so the cost is less, but also this 
is a less generous disaster bill, as we have moved to reduce things, 
cut things from the $6.7 billion to $4.5 billion or just under $4.5 
billion.
  I think most people would acknowledge I have not been somebody who 
has ever sought to hold up the business of the Senate. I have been here 
20 years. That is not how I have conducted myself. But I am left with 
no alternative and no choice when a commitment was made to me 
yesterday, both publicly and privately, that we would go to the 
Agriculture appropriations bill today and that I would have a chance to 
offer the amendment. I have reviewed the Record. It is very clear, the 
commitment that was made. As of this hour--we are approaching the 6 
o'clock hour--that commitment has not been kept.
  I understand there are others who may have lodged objection to going 
to the bill. But there are ways to go to a bill. It happens every day 
here. It happens every day that we go to a bill to which somebody has 
an objection. We have completely reserved the rights of our colleagues. 
They can require a supermajority vote. They can raise a budget point of 
order. They can raise rule XVI. As I have indicated, it is clear to me 
rule XVI doesn't apply because we have written this in a way that it 
does not apply. They can insist on a vote. Fair enough. That is all I 
am asking for. I am asking for a vote. These people deserve that 
chance.
  The fact is, literally thousands of farm families in my State are 
hanging in the balance. Right now, they are done with production for 
the year. Many of these places didn't have any production. This time of 
year, you go to your banker, and the bankers are saying to me that if 
there is not disaster assistance, 5 to 10 percent of farm families in 
my State are finished. What does that mean? We have 35,000 farm 
families in North Dakota. Five percent, if my math is right, would be 
1,750. Ten percent would be 3,500 farm families who are out there right 
now wondering: What is the Federal Government going to do? Are they 
going to do what they have always done every year for almost the last 
20 years and provide some kind of disaster assistance, or are they 
going to say: Tough, you are on your own, you are out of luck? I very 
much hope there will be a response and it will be a favorable response. 
These are as good as any people I know anywhere, hard-working, decent, 
honest, good people. They have been hit by the most extraordinary set 
of conditions. This drought has been rated the third worst drought in 
our Nation's entire history.
  The flooding last year was unprecedented in my State. Outside of the 
1997 floods, which was a 500-year flood--the worst flood in 500 years--
we have not seen anything like it. I don't pretend to know what is 
going on with the weather out there, but something extraordinary is 
happening--extreme weather and extreme weather conditions, unlike 
anything I have seen in my adult lifetime. The result is deep financial 
damage to thousands and thousands of people.
  Mr. President, I hope somewhere somebody is listening. I thank the 
Chair and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, leadership indicates to me they wish to 
adjourn for the evening momentarily. I don't know if they have other 
matters to wrap up. I am certainly not going to hold the body here. We 
will come back tomorrow with the status quo being in place. That is my 
understanding of what the agreement would be. I understand they are 
going to try to work through the evening to resolve this matter so we 
can go to the bill at some point, with some assurance.
  I want to bring this to my colleagues' attention. I pointed out the 
horrendous

[[Page S10959]]

weather in July in North Dakota. This is an article that appeared in 
the Grand Forks Herald. It said this:

       Fields of wheat, durum and barley in the Dakotas this dry 
     summer will never end up as pasta, bread or beer. What is 
     left of the stifled crops has been salvaged to feed livestock 
     struggling on pastures where hot winds blow clouds of dirt 
     from dried-out ponds.
       Some ranchers have been forced to sell their entire herds, 
     and others are either moving their cattle to greener pastures 
     or buying more already-costly feed. Hundreds of acres of 
     grasslands have been blackened by fires sparked by lightning 
     or farm equipment.
       ``These 100-degree days for weeks steady have been burning 
     everything up,'' said Walter Johnson, Steele's mayor. ``I'd 
     go for 2 feet of snow than this.''
       Farm ponds and other small bodies of water have dried out 
     from the heat, leaving the residual alkali dust to be whipped 
     up by the wind. The blowing, dirt-and-salt mixture is a 
     phenomenon that hasn't been seen in south central North 
     Dakota since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Johnson said.
       More than 60 percent of the United States now has 
     abnormally dry or drought conditions, stretching from Georgia 
     to Arizona and across the north through the Dakotas, 
     Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, said Mark Svoboda, a 
     climatologist for the National Drought Mitigation Center at 
     the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
       An area stretching from south central North Dakota to 
     central South Dakota is the most drought-stricken region in 
     the nation, Svoboda said.
       ``It's the epicenter,'' he said. ``It's just like a 
     wasteland in north central South Dakota.''
       Conditions aren't much better a little farther north. Paul 
     Smokov and his wife, Betty, raise several hundred cattle on 
     their 1,750-acre ranch north of Steele, a town of about 760 
     people.
       North Dakota's all-time high temperature was set here in 
     July 1936, at 121. Smokov, now 81, remembers that time and 
     believes conditions this summer probably are worse.
       ``I could see this coming in May,'' Smokov said of the 
     parched pastures and wilted crops. ``That's the time the good 
     Lord gives us our general rains. But we never got them this 
     year.''
       Brad Rippey, a federal Agriculture Department meteorologist 
     in Washington, said this year's drought is continuing one 
     that started in the late 1990s. ``The 1999 to 2006 drought 
     ranks only behind the 1930s and the 1950s. It's the third-
     worst drought on record--period,'' Rippey said.
       Svoboda was reluctant to say how bad the current drought 
     might eventually be.
       ``We'll have to wait to see how it plays out--but it's 
     definitely bad,'' he said. ``And the drought seems to not be 
     going anywhere soon.''
       Herman Schumacher, who owns Herreid Livestock Auction in 
     north central South Dakota, said his company is handling more 
     sales than ever because of the drought.
       In May, June and July last year, his company sold 3,800 
     cattle. During the same months this year, more than 27,000 
     cattle have been sold, he said.
       ``I've been in the barn here for 25 years and I can't even 
     compare this year to any other year,'' Schumacher said.
       He said about 50 ranchers have run cows through his auction 
     this year.
       ``Some of them just trimmed off their herds, but about a 
     third of them were complete dispersions--they'll never be 
     back,'' he said.
       ``This county is looking rough--these 100-degree days are 
     just killing us,'' said Gwen Payne, a North Dakota State 
     University extension agent in Kidder County, where Steele is 
     located.
       The Agriculture Department says North Dakota last year led 
     the nation in production of 15 different commodity classes, 
     including spring wheat, durum wheat, barley, oats, canola, 
     pinto beans, dry edible peas, lentils, flaxseed, sunflower 
     and honey.
       North Dakota State University professor and researcher 
     Larry Leistritz said it's too early to tell what effect this 
     year's drought will have on commodity prices. Flour prices 
     already have gone up and may rise more because of the effect 
     of drought on wheat.
       ``There will be somewhat higher grain prices, no doubt 
     about it,'' Leistritz said. ``With livestock, the short-term 
     effect may mean depressed meat prices, with a larger number 
     of animals being sent to slaughter. But in the longer run it 
     may prolong the period of relatively high meat prices.''
       Eventually, more than farmers could suffer.
       ``Agriculture is not only the biggest industry in the 
     state, it's just about the only industry,'' Leistritz said. 
     ``Communities live or die with the fortunes of agriculture.''

  Mr. President, this is an article that was repeated in newspaper 
after newspaper across my State. This is a disaster that is virtually 
unprecedented. South Dakota is even worse. That is why we simply have 
to achieve a result. I again ask my colleagues, please, just give us a 
vote. These people deserve at least that.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I have just been told now by leadership 
staff they are going to do everything they can to try to get this 
Agriculture appropriations bill up tomorrow and that I would have an 
opportunity to offer an amendment and get a vote. I have been assured 
they are going to bend their best efforts to accomplish that tomorrow. 
I appreciate that effort. I hope it occurs. Of course, that was 
supposed to happen today.
  I am also informed they want to adjourn the body for the day, and I 
certainly will not stand in the way of adjourning. There are many here 
who have families they wish to go home to, and I certainly don't want 
to stand in the way of that, especially with these assurances that now, 
once again, have been given to me that they will bend their best 
efforts to try to get to the Agriculture appropriations bill tomorrow 
and give me an opportunity for a vote.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. 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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