Thomas Daschle: “It has been 342 days since the effort was first initiated to bring about meaningful disaster relief to many parts of the…”

“It has been 342 days since the effort was first initiated to bring about meaningful disaster relief to many parts of the country. During those 342 days, I don't know how many hours we spent on the Senate floor attempting to inform our colleagues and urging the Senate to act as expeditiously as it could to address the concerns of so many farmers and ranchers. We did it first in the farm bill itself. We attempted to provide meaningful disaster assistance within the farm legislation. It passed in the Senate. In conference, I had a number of conversations with the chair of the Agriculture Committee in the House and with the Speaker, and it was the view, almost unanimously expressed in the House, that they would not be willing to support disaster assistance on the farm bill.”