[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 82]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            WESTERN DROUGHT

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, in listening to my friend from New York 
talk about homeland security and the work we will be doing, she agreed 
to cochair the A 9/11 caucus. I invite other Members of this body to 
get interested. We found out cell phones worked pretty well during 9/
11. Communications worked fairly good. There were some weak points, but 
those are being addressed. When we talk about 9/11 and wireless 
communications, there will be several of those issues that will come up 
in this Congress. We welcome the input of our colleagues as those 
issues move along.
  Today we did take care of part of the unemployment compensation 
problem, extending it to workers involuntarily and who became 
involuntarily unemployed during 9/11 or as a result of 9/11. There is 
not one in this body who was not sympathetic to their cause. However, I 
have another segment of the American economy that is hurting just as 
badly. I will talk a little, by the way, today about the situation 
called drought. It is expanding throughout not only the upper Midwest 
but through the western part of Kansas, Nebraska, Dakotas, Montana, and 
Colorado, and extending down into New Mexico and the panhandle of 
Oklahoma.
  There are always islands and spots that get enough moisture. In this 
morning's newspaper, the Billings Gazette in my hometown of Billings, 
MT, it was reported the water contents in the lower Yellowstone Basin 
snow pack rank the third lowest on record. It is only 63 percent of 
average. That one year at 63 percent average does not give cause for 
alarm. However, when you look at the sixth year of these situations, 
you get alarmed.
  Last Friday, I drove to Sheridan, MT. I have never seen in the Big 
Horns, in the range west and northwest of Sheridan, WY, a snow pack 
that is as small as it is for this time of the year. The same is true 
in the Bear Tooth, but further west it is better. In the area important 
to irrigators and water users in my State, those snow packs are very 
low.
  Agriculture in those droughted areas is just hanging on. If not 
relief this year, then we do not have to worry about them next year. 
They will be unemployed, too, and for reasons beyond their control. It 
is beyond anyone's control. Yet they do not qualify for unemployment 
benefits that we have approved today. A disaster package is being 
worked on. There are some folks averse to that.
  Many of my colleagues in the Senate and in the administration 
continue to cite the farm bill as a solution for drought-stricken 
American agriculture. This bill is not retroactive, folks. It does not 
account for the losses incurred in 2001 and 2002. I remember the debate 
on that farm bill. The amount of money going to the Department of 
Agriculture sounded huge, spending almost $74.4 billion a year with the 
USDA. But they ignored that 27 percent of that figure was dedicated to 
farm programs and no money dedicated for disaster. Regarding the rest 
of the money, the American taxpayer should be overwhelmingly thanked 
for their generosity by those who perhaps cannot speak for themselves. 
That is, the working poor, women, infants and children, and food 
stamps. Mr. President, 63 percent of that humongous figure that people 
thought would go to production agriculture does not even go near 
production agriculture.
  We thank the American taxpayer for making sure that, yes, there are 
food and nutrition programs dedicated to those seeing tough times in 
other sectors the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, school 
lunches and breakfasts, food stamps, WIC, a program administered by the 
counties, to make sure young women, and usually young, single women, 
know something about nutrition, and of course the programs that feed 
them and their infants.
  There are other programs under the umbrella of the USDA not directly 
to the producer, such as a nonagricultural loan and grant program to 
communities and individuals. How about this, folks? A historic barn 
preservation; or studies of animal welfare to see if mice should be 
used in scientific research. All this is from the huge pot of money 
that made every headline, in every newspaper across the Nation as 
excess spending for production agriculture.
  So we thank the American taxpayer for funding those programs. We are 
trying to work on a bill, to be introduced before this week is out, for 
drought assistance. We cannot fight a natural hazard. If there were a 
way I could do it, I would. But we need just plain old rain and we need 
it before the spring thaw sets in.
  So we passed the unemployment benefits today. What I am saying is 
there are other wants and needs in this country, too, and they have to 
do with the security and the safety of a good, strong agricultural food 
program. Once the legislation is introduced, the debate will begin, and 
it will be an interesting debate.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. 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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