Kent Conrad: “I thank Senator Stevens as well. I thank Senator Cochran and others who helped craft this agreement--Senator Kohl.…”

“I thank Senator Stevens as well. I thank Senator Cochran and others who helped craft this agreement--Senator Kohl. Because the fact is, there are real disasters and real emergencies. In my State where, on June 12, 20 inches of rain fell in 36 hours, 1 week later 8 inches of rain fell in 6 hours. It gave us this headline in the biggest paper in our State: ``Swamped.'' It says it all. A disaster of stunning proportions costing hundreds of millions of dollars in the major city of our State--1.7 million acres of land, of cropland, devastated. This is an emergency. It is a disaster. It must be addressed. Through this amendment we will begin the process of healing. I thank all those who participated in this agreement.”