Max Baucus: “people can always use figures. It is true that over the entire period of the farm bill that number of dollars has been…”

“people can always use figures. It is true that over the entire period of the farm bill that number of dollars has been spent. It is also true that some disaster assistance has been provided to farmers in the past. But it is not true that we spent $11 billion this prior year on disasters. Frankly, the last payment was only $5 billion, and it was not disaster payments; it was supplemental payments because Freedom to Farm was failing. This is the first time it applies only to 2001. It would be disaster assistance to farmers who suffered disasters in 2001. It is only fair. It is only appropriate. I might add, there is an $80,000 payment limitation--you can't get disaster payments of more than $80,000--which is very low, I might add, compared to a lot of disasters that occurred across our country. It is only disasters, and very small in comparison to the problems we have been facing. I urge Senators to support the amendment.”