Kent Conrad: “first I thank very much the Senator from Washington for her courtesy, and the Senator from Maine as well. I will be very…”

“first I thank very much the Senator from Washington for her courtesy, and the Senator from Maine as well. I will be very brief. I also recognize my colleague from Nebraska for his leadership and thank him publicly and personally for offering this amendment right now. Normally, I would never join in offering this amendment on port security, but this involves the food security of the country, and this has now become a critical matter in our part of the Nation. We just had a drought rally yesterday with farmers from all across America, joined by 14 Senators, on a fully bipartisan basis, and joined by my State's governor and joined by Members of the House of Representatives from the heartland of the country as well. The message was clear and consistent: It is imperative that Congress act now. If there is a failure to act, literally thousands of farm families will be forced off the land. That is how acute this crisis has become. By scientific measure, they now tell us this is the third worst drought in the Nation's history. The extraordinary irony is that last year in my State we had massive flooding--flooding that prevented 1 million acres from even being planted. I note the occupant of the Chair represents the State of Louisiana which suffered so dramatically from Hurricane Katrina. Those of us outside that area agreed to help and support disaster assistance because it was clearly needed, and we were pleased to step forward and offer our assistance.…”