Thomas Daschle: “I want to further elaborate on the comments I made just a moment ago. We made the motion to proceed to the Agriculture…”

“I want to further elaborate on the comments I made just a moment ago. We made the motion to proceed to the Agriculture supplemental authorization bill because we could not get agreement to bring it up on Monday. As most of my colleagues know, this is a very important piece of legislation for just about every State in the country. It has passed in the House. It is important to pass it before we leave, only because, as most of our colleagues probably already know, if we are not able to utilize and commit these resources prior to the August recess, the Congressional Budget Office has indicated to us that they will not allow us the use of these resources prior to the end of the fiscal year. We will lose $5.5 billion for Agriculture if this legislation does not pass prior to the time we leave in August. I emphasize I am not making any threats. I am not trying to cajole. I am just trying to state the fact that we need to get this legislation done. This is not a partisan bill. The administration supports dealing with Agriculture. On an overwhelming basis, it passed in the House. We need to pass it in the Senate. I am very disappointed we are not getting the cooperation to proceed to this bill because it is such an important issue.”