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   Mr. WELLSTONE. Madam President, I am joined by Senator Dayton from Minnesota and the occupant of the Chair. We come to the floor this morning because we want to communicate a respectful, sincere, and honest message to each and every one of our colleagues.

   It has been my experience in the Senate over the past 12 years that sometimes you just have to fight for people--not with acrimony, but you have to fight for people. In Minnesota, 17

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   This is a case of ``there but for the grace of God go I.'' I said this to my colleagues yesterday, and I want to say it again today. I have never voted against disaster relief assistance for anybody in the country, be it a hurricane, tornado, fire, drought, or flooding. If, God forbid, it happens to others, we want to help.

   This administration has said no to any emergency disaster assistance for agriculture. The President has said any emergency assistance for agriculture must come out of the farm bill. The farm bill is about loan rates, dairy, conservation and fair prices for farmers. The farm bill is about economic

   assistance, not natural disasters.

   So our message today is this: We are going to look at every appropriations bill, and if any appropriations bill comes out on the floor and there is assistance for fire or any other emergency that has happened--be it for Arizona, or for flooding in Texas, or anywhere else--we will slow up that bill. In fact, we will stop that bill if we need to until we get the commitment that there will be the funding for emergency disaster assistance for the farmers in Minnesota, or for the farmers in Nebraska, for the people we represent.

   Time is not neutral. People need help now. We intend to make the Senate address this issue. I yield to my colleague from Minnesota.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Minnesota is recognized.

   Mr. DAYTON. Madam President, I thank the Senator for graciously taking the Chair so Senator Nelson could join with the Senator from Minnesota and myself. I know the Senator from Michigan, who is presiding, has strong support for this disaster assistance as well. I want to say to my colleague and friend, the senior Senator from Minnesota, I am proud to stand with him today, and I am proud to follow his leadership on this disaster assistance legislation.

   The Senator and I both serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee, along with our colleague from Nebraska. The Senate Agriculture bill had disaster assistance funding in it. The House and the administration would not agree to the inclusion of disaster assistance in the package, which came out of the conference committee and was enacted into law.

   As the Senator said, it is imperative that the Senate and the House and the administration join together, given what happened in Minnesota, with 17 counties declared a disaster area because of excessive flooding in June. During a recent visit, I saw whole fields of crops underwater--giant lakes created by torrential rains one week, and again the week following. It is hard to see people, many of whom lost their crops last year, struggling again this year.

   I asked Secretary of Agriculture Veneman last week in a committee hearing: Where is this money that is purportedly available in the legislation that was passed for disaster aid? And she could not identify any.

   I join with my colleague in saying we must have this assistance. The Senate did it right in its version of the Farm bill. Unfortunately, the House and the administration have blocked disaster aid. We have to try again because farmers are going under if we do not.

   I yield the floor.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.

   Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. I thank my distinguished colleague from Michigan for exchanging positions for a moment so I have an opportunity to make a statement about the importance of having disaster relief in the soonest possible timeframe.

   Over the last several years in developing a farm policy, we have gone from virtually no help to a new farm program that is designed to help get agriculture on its feet, but it is designed to do that in a time when we would expect normal conditions. It is not designed to take care of disaster situations we are facing today for the livestock industry in particular.

   If we are not able to step forward at this time, take care of this situation, and provide hope for the livestock industry in our country, particularly those that are experiencing severe drought, as in the case of Nebraska and the Midwestern States, many of those farmers and ranchers are going to divest themselves of their herds. They are going to cut down the size of their herds. They are going to sell off their breeding stock to survive under these terrible conditions. They are not going to be able to rebuild those herds overnight. It will take years to rebuild.

   There is no coverage in the Crop Insurance Program for parched pastures that today will not sustain the grazing of our cattle. There is no support in the farm bill for those farmers and ranchers who are experiencing the losses on the livestock side. For those in this body who are looking for offsets, which is important in the Senate, they are looking for money. To go after the farm bill and the funding for building agriculture and take that money now to support the livestock

   industry is not the way to go. What we need to do is recognize that this is an emergency situation like other emergencies and it is a disaster that must, in fact, be addressed right now.

   Many of the people who voted for the last four or five disaster programs without requiring any kind of an offset are today saying: If we do it today, we have to find an offset. It is because today we have a farm bill, and they found the source of dollars. That is the only reason I think they are looking at that program.

   Robbing Peter to pay Paul at the present time will mean that both Peter and Paul will not make it. What we need to do is face this as a reality so that the farmers in Nebraska and the farmers all across our country, those who are selling their livestock, will know there is help on the way; that they can be sustained; that they are not going to have to sell off their herds.

   As we look at this downward spiral, the spinoff problems are consequential. In addition to having smaller herds, there will be less cattle to eat corn. In a bumper crop year, there will be more corn, and therefore that will depress the price of corn.

   This is not a situation without consequences to those outside interests. It will harm the smaller communities that depend on agricultural income for their very existence. We must, in fact, act now and not make this a partisan or political football to kick back and forth. We must, in fact, step forward now and recognize the urgency of this situation and not hold the farmers and ranchers of the livestock industry hostage while others are playing partisan politics.

   I thank the Senators from Minnesota and other colleagues who are looking forward to having an emergency aid package, recognizing this disaster at the soonest possible time.

   I yield the floor. I thank the Chair.

   The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Michigan.

   Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, we are playing revolving chairs today. It is a pleasure to be in the Chamber with you. I indicate to my colleagues--the Senator from Nebraska and my colleagues from Minnesota--that I completely understand and support what they are fighting for and join them in that fight.

   We also have had in northern and western Michigan disasters that happened as late as this spring where we have seen our cherry crop wiped out because of extremely hot weather, in the nineties, and then immediately going into freezing temperatures. We have seen our orchards literally wiped out in terms of the ability to produce cherries and other crops.

   When this happens to our farmers, it is critical we step forward in a bipartisan way and do everything we can to support them to get through this year, to get through these disasters.

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