Kent Conrad: “might I first clarify that the $450 million that the Senator from Mississippi referenced is not for North Dakota. It is…”

“might I first clarify that the $450 million that the Senator from Mississippi referenced is not for North Dakota. It is a national program to deal with disasters that have occurred in this most recent period of time. Some States have been hit by drought. Some States have been hit by flooding. In reference to the question of the Senator from New Mexico, whether these are emergencies that could not have been dealt with in the normal process of the committee's work, the answer is affirmatively yes, they could not have been dealt with in the normal work of the committee. They could not have been dealt with in the previous supplemental because the disaster had not yet occurred--at least with respect to North Dakota. Senator Dorgan indicated we had the most remarkable weather event since we saw the 500-year flood in 1997. In mid-June, our State got 20 inches of rain in 36 hours. This is the headline from the biggest paper in the State: ``Swamped.'' This was a week after the rain that I just referenced. The rain that I just referenced occurred a week before this one. We have been hit by the most remarkable series of floods since the 1997 flood, which was a 500-year event. On June 12, in North Dakota, we had rains that were up to 20 inches in a wide band in northeastern North Dakota. Seven days later we got hit with this rainstorm--8 inches in 6 hours. The devastation is stunning.…”