[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11627-11628]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there will now 
be a period for the transaction of morning business not to extend 
beyond the hour of 10:30 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein 
for up to 10 minutes each. The first half of the time shall be under 
the control of the Republican leader or his designee; the second half 
of the time shall be under the control of the majority leader or his 
designee.
  Who seeks recognition?
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Reed). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Senator from Minnesota should be aware that the time is presently 
controlled by the Republican leader.
  The Senator from Texas.

[[Page 11628]]


  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask the Senator from Minnesota how 
long he is intending to speak?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I say to my colleague from Texas, probably about 3 
minutes. I want to talk about disaster assistance in Minnesota.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senator from Minnesota be allowed to speak for approximately 3 to 4 
minutes, after which I ask unanimous consent to be recognized.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                          FLOODS IN MINNESOTA

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, as any number of my colleagues may have 
noted, if they have been watching CNN, northwest Minnesota in the last 
3 weeks has been deluged by heavy rainfall causing disasters in 13 
northwestern Minnesota counties. We have had massive flooding.
  Earlier this week, the President rightly declared these counties 
disaster areas, which will bring much needed FEMA assistance to 
individuals and businesses. More help is needed, and the Minnesota Farm 
Service Agency has estimated that we have 2 million acres in northwest 
Minnesota that are affected by the flooding, and the losses are 
expected to be about 70 percent. Most of the producers have carried 
crop insurance, but the crop insurance cannot come close to 
compensating for these losses. What I am worried about is FEMA can help 
us with public infrastructure and SBA can help some of our small 
businesses, but we need disaster relief for our farmers. Without 
disaster relief, there is no future for them at all.
  The President and the administration are saying that there will not 
be any more disaster relief money and that whatever assistance goes to 
these farmers has to come from the farm bill. In other words, money has 
to be taken from other farmers, taken from corn growers, wheat growers, 
soybean growers. The President and the administration are saying that 
our farmers cannot expect any relief until the year 2008, no matter 
what. That is not going to work for northwestern Minnesota.
  The farm bill which we passed is not a disaster assistance bill. It 
is a bill to stabilize farm income. It is a bill about the rural 
economies, but it is not about disaster relief. Disaster relief is all 
about ``there but the grace of God go I''--fire in Arizona, drought in 
South Dakota, flooding in northwest Minnesota.
  When the Congress decides to help areas affected by hurricanes and 
fires, we do not tell people to pull their emergency assistance out of 
somebody else's highway fund.
  Sometimes the Federal Government needs to be there for people, and 
this is one of those cases. I will be visiting northwest Minnesota 
again this week on Saturday afternoon. It is very important that the 
administration provide this much needed assistance. I do not think as a 
Senator, in the almost 12 years I have been in the Senate, I have ever 
voted against disaster relief for any part of the country, because, 
again, I think this goes to the essence of who we are as a community. 
Nobody asked for the flooding. Nobody asked for 2 million acres of 
farmland, 70 percent of it, to be destroyed. Nobody asks for hurricanes 
or tornados. Nobody asked for the drought. It is ``there but for the 
grace of God go I.'' We come together as a community and we provide the 
help for people. That is what disaster relief is about.
  I come to the floor to call on the administration to change their 
mind and to make a commitment to providing this assistance. We had it 
in the farm bill in the Senate. It was taken out in conference 
committee for 2001. Now we are talking about even more damage for 2002.
  There is no more important issue for the State of Minnesota than to 
get the help for these farmers. Otherwise, they will not be there. It 
will be all over. I appeal to the White House: Please change your mind 
on this matter. We need the help in Minnesota. There will be other 
States that will need the assistance, as well.
  I yield the floor.

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