Watson Coleman: “I join in thanking my colleague from North Dakota for giving me the opportunity to speak about the trials of Minnesota…”

“I join in thanking my colleague from North Dakota for giving me the opportunity to speak about the trials of Minnesota farmers. I join in this bipartisan plea to deal with an issue that is of great importance to many Minnesota farm families. While my colleagues from North Dakota speak from the other side of the aisle, our call for assistance for our farmers is made with one voice. I particularly thank Senator Conrad for his leadership on this issue. After last week's election, there was a lot of discussion about how the parties can, and should, work together, how we should find common ground on behalf of the American people. Here is one of our first opportunities to display bipartisanship. Supporters of this disaster assistance package hail from all over the country and from both parties. This amendment is just the sort of bipartisan cooperation that this body should embrace to meet the Nation's needs. The need for agricultural disaster assistance is great. Minnesota farmers have had to fend for themselves in the face of real natural disaster; first, against record flooding in 2005 and now record drought in 2006. In the sugar sector alone, revenue was reduced by $60 million in Minnesota in 2005, thanks to this natural disaster. In one county, crop loss exceeded $52 million and farmers were prevented from planting over 60,000 acres, thanks to saturated fields.”