Jeff Bingaman: “my home State of New Mexico is currently experiencing a very severe drought, as is much of the Southwest. As with any…”

“my home State of New Mexico is currently experiencing a very severe drought, as is much of the Southwest. As with any drought, many of my State's citizens are experiencing severe hardships. Saturday, 2 days ago, I saw what fire had done to the Carson National Forest in my State. This is one of several major fires that New Mexico has experienced this year. The fire in the Carson National Forest was designated the Hondo fire. To date, over 20,000 acres have burned in our State. People have been burned out of their homes, Bandelier National Monument, Questa, Red River, NM, have all had their existence threatened, and the community of La Lama in northern New Mexico has been utterly destroyed. The size of these fires can be directly attributed to the lack of rain in our State for a very long period of time. And if the current weather conditions continue and no relief is in sight, the rest of this year will be tense and dangerous. Mr. President, I am here today to talk about another danger that is posed by this same lack of rain, and it is a threat to the finances and the livelihood of those who depend on the rain to make the grass that feeds their herds. The bill that I am introducing today along with my cosponsors, Senator Domenici and Senator Daschle, is entitled the ``Temporary Emergency Livestock Feed Assistance Act of 1996.'' It is intended to help those ranchers who otherwise cannot afford to feed their cattle during this time of drought.”