[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 23]
[House]
[Pages 31487-31488]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2215
                     AMERICANS ARE PRAYING FOR RAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Kansas (Mrs. Boyda) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BOYDA of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, tonight Americans across the 
Southeast are praying for rain. As drought conditions have stretched 
from weeks into months, residents face a stark reminder of how one of 
our most precious resources, water, can also be one of our most 
unpredictable.
  The lessons of natural disaster all too familiar to the good folks 
back home in Kansas. In the past year, nearly every county in Kansas 
has suffered from disastrous conditions.
  The weather has been hard on many of us, but especially on our 
farmers and ranchers, who depend on nature to earn their living. It's 
hard to find words to express their concern, their worry. Many have 
worked the same acreage for decades, and they've always trusted that if 
they treat their land right, if they plow its soil and they plant it 
carefully and tend it for many months, it will reward them with a crop 
that will earn their living.
  But in so many counties, disaster conditions have slashed crop 
yields.

[[Page 31488]]

Ranchers face their own problems as animal feed prices soar.
  Kansas farmers and ranchers are good hardworking people, but lately 
they've found that the land and the weather are betraying them. That's 
why it's so important that earlier this year Congress passed a critical 
agricultural disaster relief package. These funds helped Kansans 
continue to farm and ranch in spite of the ever-present threats of 
drought, fire and other catastrophes.
  Today I urge America to come together once again to show the same 
compassion to our brothers and sisters in the Southeast. Farmers are 
finding that no matter how much they care and the effort that they 
devote to their land, their crops simply won't grow. These hardworking 
families can't make ends meet and they need a helping hand from 
Congress.
  I urge my colleagues to remember the struggles of farmers and 
ranchers in the Southeast, in Kansas and across America who continue to 
confront the challenge of this difficult weather.
  And again, we're praying tonight for the rain for the Southeast, and 
it looks like we might get some rain, and we are just blessed.

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