Dorgan Says Bush Budget Ignores Need For Farm Disaster Aid
DORGAN SAYS BUSH BUDGET IGNORES NEED FOR FARM DISASTER AID
U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said Friday the budget submitted by President Bush earlier this week "turns a cold shoulder" to America's family farmers by failing to include either immediate farm disaster assistance or to provide for any on-going farm disaster program in the broader Farm Bill.
"America depends on a broad network of independent family farmers," Dorgan said, "many of whom have been hit by two years or more of devastating weather disasters, including drought that in many places throughout rural America turned once lush farm fields into 'moonscapes.' While the President's budget has plenty of room for big tax breaks for very wealthy Americans, tax breaks he wants to make permanent, there apparently is no room for a helping hand for family farmers struggling to survive."
Dorgan, the Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC), and a number of other Senators spoke at a Capitol Hill press conference Friday where they released a DPC analysis of how the President's budget proposals would affect rural Americans. The report said the Bush budget also falls short on a broad range of other issues in rural America - economic development, law enforcement, health care, the fight against meth, conservation, education and others.
Senator Dorgan fought hard in the past Congress to provide immediate disaster aid for those hit by weather disasters in 2005 and 2006, but was blocked by those who then controlled Congress after President Bush said he'd veto any legislation with farm disaster aid in it. The President's allies in Congress stripped out the disaster aid provision Dorgan included in the Katrina-Iraq Supplemental Appropriations bill.
In this Congress, Dorgan is the author of legislation that would restore a permanent farm disaster program in the federal farm program, eliminating the need for ad hoc administration or congressional action to provide assistance to farmers hit by devastating weather disasters.
http://dorgan.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=269041