Byron Dorgan

I want to concur with the remarks of Senator Conrad. They and their staffs have provided us with invaluable help in our efforts to seek assistance to prevent flooding in the Devils Lake Basin in North Dakota.

North Dakota has received a Presidentially declared disaster declaration for each of the past 3 years. H.R. 3019 provides disaster assistance for the Pacific Northwest and other recent natural disasters. Could the chairman provide me with…

We note that an additional $100 million dollars is provided for the Community Development Block Grant Program in the disaster supplemental portion, title II, of the pending bill. The State of North Dakota, working with the affected…

If the Federal Government is part of the problem, then let us solve that part of the problem that we can in Federal law. I will say this. There are some States--and I do not know what Michigan does--there are some States that provide over…

It is also our intention that the State of North Dakota or its designee be the EDA grant recipient in order to get emergency funding to the Devils Lake area as quickly as possible. An Interagency Task Force, headed by FEMA Director James…

These two amendments very simply say that we would provide some resources to the Fish and Wildlife Service for some upper basin water storage in an area where there is flooding, rather severe flooding that is causing substantial…

I understood the point the Senator was making. I think all of us in this Chamber understand the heartbreak and the sadness which was visited on Oklahoma and Oklahoma City and this entire country by that tragedy, by that senseless violence…

The bill the Senator supported last year included both multiple sites on the ground and the possibility of space-based laser systems.

Tragically, the terrorist attack in Oklahoma City was a fertilizer bomb. The tragic terrorist attack in Oklahoma City was with a fertilizer bomb in the back of a Ryder truck. Not even a very large one, but large enough to destroy that…

The legislation that came to the floor of the Senate demanded early deployment by 1999 of a national missile defense system. The way to waste the taxpayers' money is to----

Mr. President this is the simplest possible amendment. If you believe payments ought to go to farmers for the purpose of not farming, then you want to defeat this amendment. If you believe this is a farm bill to help farmers who are…

The issue for us is, what about the future of family farming in this country? Will we have family farmers in the future or not? Will we simply have giant agri-factories farming from California to Maine? Do we care about the future of…

The reason competition is so important--and the Senator has talked about it--is that we have seen the result in long distance. We have 500 companies in long distance competing aggressively in this country, and prices have dropped 60…

It is long past the time when Congress should have passed a farm bill. Last year was the year in which Congress was required to enact a 5-year farm program. The Congress did in fact put a 5-year farm program in the reconciliation bill…

I think at the end of Thursday we need to have found a way to reach agreement on something that we can move into conference that builds a bridge between the various proposals that now exist. I think we have not seen much bipartisanship in…

The hour is late, and I will simply take 1 minute on an issue many of us are concerned about on both sides of the aisle. I have previously offered unanimous-consent requests to extend the current farm program for a year, provide planting…

I puzzled over that last evening, wondering why would the majority party be out here with that message? Why would they say, ``If we cannot get the Freedom To Farm Act, we want nothing.''

Actually the words ``safety net'' came from President Ronald Reagan who described a series of programs that represented the safety net, an important one of which is Social Security. I do not expect anyone here would make the case that…

I accept his point. My only observation was we could debate all this. On Labor-HHS, Republicans deserted on the vote there as well. Some of the vetoes were fully expected, in terms of what was in the legislation when it went to the…

I hope after a lot of reflection that conferees will recant or repent or rethink these two issues and address the issue of competition in the right way. You cannot advertise competition when in fact the product you are describing is…

But some of this is happening in anticipation of us passing what my colleague and others have supported. In fact, some of these mergers now have more television stations involved than they are permitted to hold. Why would they do that…

So the Senator agrees the concentration of the meatpacking industry is damaging?

Yes, that is exactly the point. When you have mergers, it means companies that used to be two get married up and now they are one.

Mr. President, the reason this is necessary is the Department of Health and Human Services has estimated that the cost to the States of meeting the work requirement in this bill will exceed the funds provided in the Dole plan by about $17…

I do not come to the floor suggesting that gambling is always wrong or ought to be made illegal. I think it is very useful to study, and I think that the commission approach makes a lot of sense. We ought to be evaluating what does all of…