|
|
U.S.
Senator Member: Agriculture, Energy, Veterans' Affairs, Ethics and Aging Committees |
|
|
|
||
|
For Immediate
Release May 16, 2006 |
CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Comm. Director 303-455-7600 Andrew Nannis – Press Secretary 202-224-5852 |
|
|
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Strong bipartisan support in the United States Senate helped include $3.9 billion in emergency agriculture disaster relief for farmers, ranchers and rural communities in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill. United States Senator Ken Salazar was a champion of this emergency relief, and today called upon Coloradoans in rural and agricultural communities to sign his online petition of support for this urgently-needed emergency relief. “As I travel through our state, I hear from my rural constituents who, in addition to record fuel and other input costs, have also suffered from severe drought over the past several years. I am extremely pleased that the Senate voted to include immediate emergency agricultural disaster assistance in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill,” said Senator Salazar. Coloradoans can read and sign Senator Salazar’s online petition at www.salazar.senate.gov/contact/agpetition.htm or by visiting Senator Salazar’s official Senate website, www.salazar.senate.gov, and clicking on the link marked: Sign the online petition to preserve emergency agricultural disaster assistance in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill on Senator Salazar’s homepage. “Some leaders in the House of Representatives are again threatening to remove this important funding when the bill is considered by the House-Senate Conference Committee, which meets to negotiate the final version of the bill. In addition, President Bush has suggested that he will veto this bill if it contains this vital aid to our nation’s farmers and ranchers,” said Senator Salazar. “I urge our farmers and ranchers, their friends, families and communities to sign this petition in support of this important assistance package and let President Bush and Speaker Hastert know that you stand with the farmers and ranchers of America in their time of need.” Over the past six years, Colorado has suffered from ongoing natural disasters including drought compounded by soaring gas prices already inflated by Hurricane Katrina. In early May 2006, the Senate passed the $109 billion emergency supplemental which included the Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2006. The amendment, which Senator Salazar helped introduce, provides $3.9 billion in emergency agriculture disaster relief funding to farmers and ranchers who have suffered smaller harvests as a result of drought and other natural disasters, lower prices, and higher input costs. The full Emergency Supplemental is currently in conference committee with the House. The House version does not include any agriculture disaster relief funds.
###
|
||
