Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, livestock producers across the Dakotas have suffered immeasurable losses this winter. Baxter Black, cowboy poet and commentator on National Public Radio, wrote a touching piece describing the struggles of ranchers facing the realities of the season's severe weather. National Public Radio aired the commentary on April 23. Mr. President, I ask that the following transcript of Mr. Black's commentary be printed in the Record. The transcript follows: We Understand Repeat after me: I do solemnly swear as shepherd of the flock to accept the responsibility for the animals put in my care, to tend to their basic needs of food and shelter, to minister to their ailments, to put their well being before my own if need be, and to relieve their pain and suffering up to, and including, the final bullet. I swear to treat them with respect, to always remember that we have made them dependent on us, and therefore have put their lives in our hands, as God is my witness. Helpless. The worst winter in Dakota's memory. Cattle losses already predicted up to 50,000 head. And how did they die? From exposure and lack of feed. Basic needs--food and shelter. And now the flooding. You think those Dakota ranchers said, ``Well, I'll just close down the store and put on the answering machine, we'll wait'll the storm blows over, no harm done''? No, they couldn't. Wouldn't. ``Charlie, you can't go out there. The cows are clear over in the west pasture. You can't even see the barn from here.'' But he tried anyway. Tried to get the machinery running, tried to clear a path, tried to load the hay, tried to find the road. These are not people who live a pampered life. These are not people who are easily defeated. These are not people who quit trying. But days and weeks on end of blizzards, blowing snow, and fatal wind chills took their toll. Cattle stranded on the open plains with no cover, no protection, no feed, no place to go, and no relief from the Arctic fury died in singles and bunches and hundreds and thousands, frozen as hard as iron. And back in the house sat the rancher and his family, stranded, unable to do what every fiber in their bodies willed them to do, knowing that every hour he could not tend his cows diminished him in some deep, permanent, undefinable way, changing him forever. The losses will eventually be tallied, the number of head, and extrapolated to dollars. But dollars were not what kept him pacing the floor at night, looking out the window every two minutes, walking out in it 50 times a day, trying, trying, trying, knowing if he could only get to them he could save them. And then finally having to face the loss, his failure as a shepherd. That's what kept him trying. Exhausting, depression, and despair. It's hard to comfort a person who has had his spirit battered like that. ``It couldn't be helped, there's nothing you could do,'' is small consolation. So, all I can say to our fellow stockman in the Dakotas is, in our own way, we understand.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair and thank my colleague from Texas. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Byrd amendment to strike the automatic continuing resolution language in this bill. No State has been as devastated as mine by this remarkable series of weather events. I represent North Dakota. My State has had the greatest snowfall in its history--10 feet of snow. We were then hit in the first week of April with the most powerful winter storm in 50 years, including an ice storm that took down the electrical grid for 80,000 people. We were then hit by what we are now told is a 1,000-year flood. And to cap it off, we had fires rage through downtown Grand Forks, ND, and burn up most of three city blocks. A city of 50,000 people has been almost entirely evacuated and still, today, there are more than 25,000 homeless. I do not think there has been another disaster of this type in our country's history. I do not know of another circumstance in which a city of 50,000 has been mass evacuated and 3 weeks later more than half the population has still not been able to return. We have just had the mayor of Grand Forks, ND, and the mayor of East Grant Forks, MN, here, talking to our colleagues about the needs of these communities. This is a critical moment. On Monday night, these communities are going to have to make a decision about their future and about what parts of the community will be able to be rebuilt, and those areas that will have to be turned into a floodway so we can prevent something like this ever happening again. They need to know now what resources are going to be available and we have already been told by the White House, if this provision is included, the President will veto the bill. There is no question about that. Frankly, he should veto the bill if this is included because it has nothing to do with natural disasters. Some of the sponsors of this legislation have indicated they are trying to deal with a manmade disaster. The manmade disaster was last year. We are addressing something that happened last year. For this year, there is a budget agreement. So, if they feel strongly about this measure--and I understand that they do--they have every right to advance their proposal. But it is not an urgent matter now. It is not an urgent matter now. The manmade disaster they are talking about happened last year. This year there has been a budget agreement negotiated between the White House and the Congress. There is no urgency to this provision now. It does not need to be on this supplemental appropriation bill that is designed to deal with natural disasters. I can tell you there is an urgency to that bill now. These people need help. We have people who have been living on cots in shelters for 3 weeks. We have nearly 1,000 people who are still in that circumstance, in shelters, on cots, wondering what is going to happen to them. I just ask our colleagues to not push amendments that are not necessary to this legislation. I can just say when the shoe was on the other foot and they suffered disasters, we did not offer amendments that were not related to disasters. We never did that. I tell you, I had lots of amendments that I would have liked to have had considered that were on things that mattered a lot to me, but I have always understood, and always responded to the request that disaster bills be clean. Every single time we have had a disaster bill, I have responded to that call and I just ask our colleagues to extend the same courtesy to those of us who represent areas that have been devastated by disaster now. Our people need help. The last thing they need is to have the legislation that can help them be made some kind of political football. That is not a service to those people who are hurting and need assistance. I yield the floor.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, as Chairman Bond knows, last week I discussed the impact of recent floods along the Red River Valley on education communities in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota, specifically on local school districts that have enrolled displaced students from the Grand Forks and other communities. I mentioned that 11,000 elementary and secondary students from Grand Forks, ND, were displaced and attending class in more than 30 school districts across the State. More than 20,000 students are displaced in Minnesota. At the time, I outlined the concerns of local school districts who were hit with unanticipated educational operating expenses as a result of enrolling displaced students in communities surrounding Grand Forks. After discussing the availability of emergency assistance with officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], I was advised that while FEMA had authority to assist communities with the repair of educational facilities, the agency did not have authority under section 403, Essential Assistance, to assist a local district with emergency education operating expenses, for example, additional staffing, instructional materials. In response to the concerns expressed by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, and local school districts, I introduced legislation on May 1, 1997, to authorize FEMA under section 403 to provide emergency education operations assistance to elementary and secondary schools. Since the introduction of this legislation, I have been informed by FEMA officials, that following a review of authorized programs, FEMA will use authority under section 417, Community Disaster Loans, to provide a local school district with emergency education operating expenses. Under the Community Disaster Loans Program, the President is authorized to make loans to a local government agency which has suffered substantial loss of tax and other revenues as a result of a major disaster. Mr. President, I know the chairman has been very understanding of the concerns of local school districts in the Upper Midwest, and have been working to respond to the concerns of local North Dakota communities. As you have been involved in discussions with FEMA officials regarding these emergency disaster funds, is it your understanding that FEMA may exercise existing authority under section 417 to provide funds for unanticipated emergency education operating needs of local school districts? These funds would be used to provide services for displaced students including emergency staffing and instructional materials.

Mr. CONRAD. I would like, if I could, to speak for 5 minutes?

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. I am happy to yield.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I had not yielded the floor.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I would like to speak for one moment about the disaster supplemental bill. It is fair to say that my State has been absolutely devastated by this extraordinary set of occurrences. First of all, the greatest snowfall in our State's history--over 10 feet of snow--followed in early April by the most severe winter storm in 50 years. Nearly 2 feet of snow fell in that one blizzard, accompanied by 70-mile-an-hour winds and an ice storm that brought down the electrical grid serving 80,000 people. That was followed by what we are now told was not the 500-year flood but the 1,000-year flood. That was coupled in Grand Forks with a fire that destroyed nearly three city blocks and was only contained because of the heroic efforts of the fire department in Grand Forks. Mr. President, we have not had in this country a circumstance in which a town of the size of the city of Grand Forks with more than 50,000 people having been evacuated on a mandatory basis. Those people are not able to return to their homes for perhaps as long as a month. This is a disaster of truly staggering proportion and dimension. Those people need help, and they need it now. Mr. President, I know there are some who would like to attach amendments that are, in fact, extraneous to disaster relief to that legislation. I ask my colleagues to forbear the temptation to add extraneous matters to this disaster legislation. I know that some feel these amendments are not extraneous. In my own judgment, virtually all of these amendments that have been added have nothing to do with the immediate purpose of the legislation, which is to address the disasters that have been experienced in some 22 States--most recently the States of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Some of these amendments really relate to the budget dispute of last year. We are going to have lots of opportunities for budget discussions. This disaster bill is not the time and is not the place for that to be. The people who have been hurt deserve to be helped, just as we have helped other States impacted by disaster. Over and over, when we have had disaster bills, we have agreed, on a bipartisan basis, to withhold extraneous amendments. I have agreed to do it, even though I, too, have been tempted to offer things that I thought were critically important. I hope my colleagues will extend that same courtesy to those of us who represent States that have been devastated in the most recent disasters. Our people deserve the same consideration and the same treatment that we have extended to others in similar circumstances.

Mr. CONRAD. No; I had not yielded the floor. I was yielding for a question from my colleague from Minnesota.

Mr. CONRAD. I just say to my colleague by way of a quick answer that in Grand Forks two-thirds of the people are refugees. They cannot be in their own homes. They have been gone now for nearly 2 weeks. They still do not know in many parts of the city when they will return. And when they hear that there are amendments not related to disaster that are slowing down the disaster bill, they are just bewildered by what we are doing here. I must say there are times when I wonder what we are doing here. And again, I just hope that our colleagues would desist from offering amendments that are not disaster related to a disaster bill. I thank the Chair and yield the floor. Mr. JEFFORDS addressed the Chair.

Mr. CONRAD. If I can follow up on Senator Dorgan's comments, then I would be happy to yield further. Last night I accepted an award on behalf of the Grand Forks Fire Department for the extraordinary heroism they demonstrated when this fire was burning out of control and they were prevented from fighting that fire as they normally would by the flood waters. And yet they took on an extraordinary circumstance; with live wires in the floodwaters, they could not know, as they moved to rescue people who were in those buildings, if they would be electrocuted, and they went forward, they did their jobs, and they rescued more than 20 people. And because of their bravery not a single life was lost. We lost some buildings. We did not lose a single life. Last night the Firefighters of America gave to me, on behalf of the Grand Forks Fire Department, an award. I might say those firefighters who risked their lives to save others were doing it at the very time their own homes were being destroyed. Forty-three of those firefighters had their homes destroyed while they were saving other people's lives. I can tell you, those people are wondering, why is it when we have a disaster that impacts our area people want to put on amendments that have nothing to do with disaster relief? They cannot understand it. We did not do that when the shoe was on the other foot. When other States were hit by disaster, we did not offer other amendments. I hope that cooler heads would prevail here and that we would find other vehicles for Senators to offer their amendments that they believe are important but leave the disaster bill clean so the people who are trying to rebuild their lives from an extraordinary set of disasters have a chance to rebuild their lives. That is not too much to ask.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, last week on several occasions I spoke about the devastating impact of the floods along the Red River Valley on the residents of the communities in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. I note that the current occupant of the chair sent me a very gracious note about the fact that he has relatives in North Dakota. I want to acknowledge his offer to help, which we appreciate very much. The impact of the floods on small communities and the city of Grand Forks, ND has been extraordinary. In Grand Forks alone, more than 60,000 residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters. Much of downtown Grand Forks has been destroyed by fires, and an estimated 28 to 35 schools and higher education facilities have been severely damaged or destroyed by the floods. This disaster has left more than 11,000 elementary and secondary students and 10,500 university students without school facilities for classroom instruction. Many of these elementary and secondary students are attending classes in more than 30 school districts across the State. The North Dakota Office of Management and Budget has estimated that damage to local education facilities, as well as the unanticipated costs to provide education services for displaced students around the State, may exceed $250 million. Mr. President, local school districts and the North Dakota University system will need considerable assistance from the Department of Education and the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] to fully recover from this terrible disaster. I have been advised that FEMA, under the Robert Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, has the authority to provide assistance to local governmental agencies including school districts and the North Dakota University system, for repair of educational facilities. FEMA, however, does not have authority under the Stafford Act to assist or reimburse a local school district for providing unanticipated educational services to displaced students. Such emergency educational assistance was available in the past to local school districts from the Department of Education under Impact Aid, section 7--assistance for current school expenditures in cases of certain disasters. This law, unfortunately, was repealed in 1994 during consideration of the Improving America's School Act. Prior to 1994, for example, school districts affected by natural disasters including Hurricane Andrew--1992--in Dade County, FL, and communities in 7 states impacted by the Midwest floods--1993--were eligible for disaster assistance to meet emergency education operating expenses. In North Dakota, more than 30 school districts throughout the State are assisting 11,000 displaced students from the Grand Forks area. Another 30,000 students in Minnesota are displaced and attending classes in school districts across the State. These school districts are in urgent need of similar emergency assistance. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to restore the authority to provide this emergency education operations assistance for elementary and secondary schools. I am very pleased that Senators Daschle, Johnson, Dorgan, Wellstone, and Grams are joining me as cosponsors of this bill. Under this legislation, FEMA would be authorized in section 403-- essential assistance--to provide disaster assistance including transportation, emergency food services, and the costs for providing educational services to students who formerly attended other schools, including private schools, that were damaged or destroyed by disaster. This emergency assistance would also be available to schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs provided the schools are in the area that has been declared a major disaster by the President. As FEMA currently has the authority to restore educational facilities, I believe the agency is best equipped to respond quickly to the emergency operating needs of school districts affected by disasters. As I noted earlier, school districts in 7 states affected by Midwest floods and Dade County schools impacted by Hurricane Andrew benefited from this emergency assistance in 1992-94. There is no question that school districts in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota urgently need similar assistance. I intend to offer this legislation as part of the supplemental disaster assistance measure when it reaches the Senate floor. I hope my colleagues will support this urgent need.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, last week on several occasions I spoke about the devastating impact of the floods along the Red River Valley on the residents of the communities in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. I note that the current occupant of the chair sent me a very gracious note about the fact that he has relatives in North Dakota. I want to acknowledge his offer to help, which we appreciate very much. The impact of the floods on small communities and the city of Grand Forks, ND has been extraordinary. In Grand Forks alone, more than 60,000 residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters. Much of downtown Grand Forks has been destroyed by fires, and an estimated 28 to 35 schools and higher education facilities have been severely damaged or destroyed by the floods. This disaster has left more than 11,000 elementary and secondary students and 10,500 university students without school facilities for classroom instruction. Many of these elementary and secondary students are attending classes in more than 30 school districts across the State. The North Dakota Office of Management and Budget has estimated that damage to local education facilities, as well as the unanticipated costs to provide education services for displaced students around the State, may exceed $250 million. Mr. President, local school districts and the North Dakota University system will need considerable assistance from the Department of Education and the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] to fully recover from this terrible disaster. I have been advised that FEMA, under the Robert Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, has the authority to provide assistance to local governmental agencies including school districts and the North Dakota University system, for repair of educational facilities. FEMA, however, does not have authority under the Stafford Act to assist or reimburse a local school district for providing unanticipated educational services to displaced students. Such emergency educational assistance was available in the past to local school districts from the Department of Education under Impact Aid, section 7--assistance for current school expenditures in cases of certain disasters. This law, unfortunately, was repealed in 1994 during consideration of the Improving America's School Act. Prior to 1994, for example, school districts affected by natural disasters including Hurricane Andrew--1992--in Dade County, FL, and communities in 7 states impacted by the Midwest floods--1993--were eligible for disaster assistance to meet emergency education operating expenses. In North Dakota, more than 30 school districts throughout the State are assisting 11,000 displaced students from the Grand Forks area. Another 30,000 students in Minnesota are displaced and attending classes in school districts across the State. These school districts are in urgent need of similar emergency assistance. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to restore the authority to provide this emergency education operations assistance for elementary and secondary schools. I am very pleased that Senators Daschle, Johnson, Dorgan, Wellstone, and Grams are joining me as cosponsors of this bill. Under this legislation, FEMA would be authorized in section 403-- essential assistance--to provide disaster assistance including transportation, emergency food services, and the costs for providing educational services to students who formerly attended other schools, including private schools, that were damaged or destroyed by disaster. This emergency assistance would also be available to schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs provided the schools are in the area that has been declared a major disaster by the President. As FEMA currently has the authority to restore educational facilities, I believe the agency is best equipped to respond quickly to the emergency operating needs of school districts affected by disasters. As I noted earlier, school districts in 7 states affected by Midwest floods and Dade County schools impacted by Hurricane Andrew benefited from this emergency assistance in 1992-94. There is no question that school districts in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota urgently need similar assistance. I intend to offer this legislation as part of the supplemental disaster assistance measure when it reaches the Senate floor. I hope my colleagues will support this urgent need.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Presiding Officer.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise today to again update my colleagues on the extraordinary set of disasters that we have experienced in my home State of North Dakota. As the President knows, we have had really an extraordinary set of events. First of all, the toughest winter in our history with over 10 feet of snow that fell in North Dakota, the most we have ever had, followed by, in the first week of April, the most powerful winter storm in 50 years that saw nearly 2 feet of snow fall in much of the State. It was accompanied by an ice storm that took down the electrical grid for 80,000 people in my State who were without power for a week. On top of that, there were 70-mile-an-hour winds that were devastating. Then we followed that with a flood that has been termed a ``500-year flood.'' But we are now told in testimony yesterday the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration indicated it was a 1,000-year flood. In the midst of all that, the city of Grand Forks, a city of 50,000, is almost entirely evacuated, the largest evacuation of a city that we have seen in the United States in anyone's memory. Virtually the entire city, 95 percent of the city, has been evacuated and have been told they may not be back in their homes for as much as a month. Truly an extraordinary set of events. Today, I would like to thank President Clinton for traveling to North Dakota to see the devastation firsthand. I would also like to thank the Cabinet officials who traveled with the President, including Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. Donna has a twin sister who lives in North Dakota and so has a special interest and concern about our State. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman was there. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Cuomo was there, and Transportation Secretary Slater. I said to Secretary Slater, who has been there three times in the last 3 weeks, that he about qualifies for paying North Dakota income tax he has been there so often. And, of course, the head of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, James Lee Witt, has also been there three times in the last 3 weeks. We deeply appreciate the help that he has brought to our State. Also with us were high officials of the Corps of Engineers, who have waged a valiant fight. Let me just say that they were fighting this flood in 83 spots up and down the Red River Valley. They won many of those battles. We lost a fight in Grand Forks, but I want to make clear it was not because the corps did not wage a valiant and heroic effort. I think everyone in our State would say the Corps of Engineers has just done a superb job. Mr. President, we now face the difficult task of recovery. We will be considering a disaster supplemental bill in the committee next Tuesday. I want to just share briefly with my colleagues photographs from Grand Forks and from other parts of eastern North Dakota so people can see for themselves what has happened. This shows part of downtown Grand Forks. As someone said to me, it looks like Dresden after the firebomb. After the flood completely swamped the city, 90 percent of the town was flooded, a town of 50,000 people. A fire then broke out that burned much of three blocks of downtown Grand Forks. As you can see, this is one of the buildings that was gutted. Included in buildings that were destroyed were the newspaper, Grand Forks Herald, which has already announced plans to rebuild, and also the largest bank was destroyed. So we have had just one set of extraordinary occurrences after another. I talked to one man who called me. He said, ``Senator, I'm over in Detroit Lakes, MN. My home has been destroyed. I did not have flood insurance because I was outside the 100-year flood plain. Nobody thought there was any threat to us. My business has been destroyed. All of my inventory is gone. I was trying to reach my insurance agent to find out if I had any coverage, but of course I have no idea where he is. He's been evacuated to some other town.'' He said, ``I tried to call my banker, but my bank burned down. So I have no idea what the status of my accounts are there in terms of what's happened to receipts. I have 80 employees, and I'm responsible for their livelihood. I have no idea where they are. They were evacuated to different towns.'' He said, ``My wife turned to me when we were considering all this, and she said, `Well, you know, let's remember what's important. We have our lives. We're healthy. And we can come back.' '' That is the attitude that has pervaded this community. I am just going to say how proud I am of the people who have that attitude--that we are going to rebuild, we are going to come back. But it is not going to be easy, Mr. President. This picture shows a wider shot of the fire devastation. Here you can see an entire row of buildings that are absolutely gutted. By the way, they have already started the process of tearing down these buildings even though the flood water remains. This is a picture taken in the residential district. It shows a house that has been floated right off of its foundation. There are thousands and thousands of homes flooded in this community. Ninety percent of the community--I think roughly 12,000 homes--many of them are absolutely destroyed. They are up to their eaves as you fly over much of this community. All you see are rooftops, and many homes have been forced right off their foundations. The pressure and the current running here looks placid. It looks placid, but in fact there is a very strong current. My colleague, Senator Dorgan, just took a boat tour with the Coast Guard. They told him if anybody falls out of this boat, you are in deep trouble because the current is so strong it will suck you right down. So these are the conditions that people are having to deal with in Grand Forks. This is another shot down one of the streets leading to the University of North Dakota. You can see these vehicles are completely engulfed in the flood water. As Senator Dorgan said, as he went in this boat, at one point they hit something, and they realized they had gone over a car in this boat as they went through the flood waters. In some places the water is 10 feet deep. This is a picture of a church and graveyard. This is not in the city. This is out in the country. This shows how widespread the flooding is. This is miles from the city of Grand Forks. Yet you can see on the gravestones how deep the water is. And it is still there. This is a shot, and the last picture I will show, and it perhaps is a little hard to make out because it is a shot that was taken and provided to us by CBS News. I took a CBS News crew with me on a helicopter tour north of Grand Forks. This is something that is an untold story. The focus, understandably, has been on Grand Forks because of the remarkable set of events there. The untold story, now told by CBS News because they were the first to see it, is what has happened north of Grand Forks. Perhaps it is hard to make out. But what you are seeing here, as far as the eye can see--and we are up in a helicopter; this is a picture taken out of the helicopter--as far as the eye can see, it is water. It is the most remarkable thing I have ever seen. We were at many places as we flew north from Grand Forks, which is 75 miles from the Canadian border, and we flew within 8 miles of the Canadian border. The entire way the river has expanded--not just river flooding but overland flooding from the extraordinary snowfall. The combination has led to a body of water 30 miles wide. As far as the eye can see, it is water. You can see, here are some roads that are built-up roads. These are roads that are on raised elevations. You can see where they are flooded as well even though they are 3 to 4 feet above the farmlands. So you can see this water is 3 to 4 feet deep, in some places as much as 8 feet deep, and 30 miles wide. It is simply extraordinary. Mr. President, I will end the presentation there just to say we will be considering the disaster supplemental next week. I ask my colleagues to help us pass that expeditiously and to provide the assistance that is so desperately needed, not only in North Dakota but neighboring Minnesota and South Dakota as well. I thank the Chair and yield the floor. Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair and yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, my State has been hit by one of the most remarkable series of events ever in the history of our State. First we had the greatest snowfall in our State's history, over 100 inches of snow. Then the last of eight major blizzards hit. The eighth and final blizzard was the most powerful winter storm in 50 years. It included almost 2 feet of snow as well as major ice storms, then followed by 70 mile-an- hour winds that were devastating--80,000 people lost their electricity, many of them for a week. The economic devastation is truly remarkable. Now in the last 12 hours even more disaster is occurring. I am going to read just briefly from the major newspaper in my State, which is in the largest city of our State, Fargo, ND. The article begins this way: At 12:15 a.m. today, the flood of 1997 officially became the worst in Fargo-Moorhead's history. The National Weather Service said a reading taken at that time put the Red River's level at 39.12 feet. That exceeds . . . the river level measured in the flood of 1897--until this morning, the worst ever. That also means the Red [River] has hit the 500-year flood level. Speaking on [a local] radio [station] at 1:15 a.m., city Operations Manager Dennis Walaker struck an ominous note. Walaker said, ``We are at river stages that exceed the 1897 level. No one has ever seen this much water in the Fargo area, ever. All we can do is react.'' I just talked to the mayor, and I just talked to Mr. Walaker. He tells me they have 15 square miles of water headed for Fargo, ND. This on top of the river which is 20 feet above flood stage. There is just a mass scramble to try to deal with this extraordinary flood threat. The crest is not expected to be much higher than [about 39.5 feet] but officials will reevaluate the situation this morning. . . . Iced-over farm fields liquefied. Shelterbelt snowdrifts shrank. Drainage ditches whooshed into coulees and merged with rivers. In rural Cass County . . . winter turned into water. By noon, sheets of melted snow rolled toward the Red River. Water that couldn't fit into engorged rivers, particularly the Wild Rice River, took off over land. The overland flows crossed I-29-- The major north-south Federal highway-- near the Horace exit and threatened homes in southwest Fargo. At midmorning, [the mayor] warned residents of approaching overland flooding. He suggested people leave work and check their property if they live in-- Certain residential areas. By midafternoon, some students were leaving [schools] because of the flood threat. The situation was even more urgent next to the Red River. Fargo-Moorhead homeowners who hadn't lost the battle Tuesday asked for more sandbags and sandbaggers. North Dakota State University canceled classes so students could help in the fight. I will not go further, Mr. President, other than to say this is absolutely an extraordinary time. One of the areas in which we have been hit the hardest is cattle death losses. The number of cattle losses are at least 112,000 head at this point. North Dakota Farm Service Agency reports that nearly 80,000 of them are from the weekend storm of April 4 through 6 alone, a storm that is being called Blizzard Hannah. I fear, Mr. President, that many more calves may die. This is such an extraordinary set of events. These pictures depict some of the situations and scenes that we are seeing across the State of North Dakota. Here, one cow is nuzzling a calf with a dead cow alongside. What happened in this storm, which was so powerful, is that not only did cattle freeze to death, but many suffocated because the winds were so intense that compacted snow was blown up into their nostrils and they suffocated. Mr. President, this next picture shows what we are seeing all too often. Here a farmer is coming down the road to inspect the herd. Here is a cow dead in a ditch. All across North Dakota, carcasses are littered after this devastation. Here is an all-too-often sight. This is a cow frozen in a snow bank. It is not just a snow bank, it is actually ice and snow together. People report that these snow banks are like concrete. There was first this heavy snowfall, then the ice, then these incredible winds. These cattle did not have a chance. For that reason, today I am introducing legislation that will provide for an indemnification payment. I hope that this legislation will be enacted. I hope that my colleagues will understand the massive economic loss in my State. Under this legislation, producers who have experienced a 5-percent loss of their cattle herd or calf crop would receive indemnity payments of $200 per head, up to 200 of lost livestock. In some cases, losses will be covered by private insurance. In these instances, producers will be able to receive indemnity payments under my program, but the total payments of private insurance and Government indemnity cannot exceed the expected value of a cow. I have been working with my colleagues from the Dakotas, Senator Dorgan from North Dakota, and Senator Daschle and Senator Johnson from South Dakota to implement assistance to livestock producers in North Dakota and South Dakota. We will continue working to provide meaningful, comprehensive relief. Cattle producers in my State have asked for something simple and something that will help them overcome these overwhelming difficulties. My legislation accomplishes those goals, and I call on my colleagues to offer this assistance to livestock producers. I understand I have a colleague standing by who would like to have time as well, so I do not want to extend this, other than to send the legislation to the desk and ask it be appropriately referred. I introduce it on behalf of myself and my colleague from North Dakota, Senator Dorgan. I urge my colleagues' close attention to it. Again, Mr. President, we are faced with what I call a slow-motion disaster, because it is a circumstance in which you do not have the flood come and leave. In this circumstance, the flood has come, and it is staying. In addition to that, we have all of these other severe weather factors to cope with. I, again, hope that we will move expeditiously with the supplemental disaster legislation so that we can fund the programs necessary to help in the recovery that is so urgently needed, not only in my State but in the States of Minnesota and South Dakota as well.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, my State has been hit by one of the most remarkable series of events ever in the history of our State. First we had the greatest snowfall in our State's history, over 100 inches of snow. Then the last of eight major blizzards hit. The eighth and final blizzard was the most powerful winter storm in 50 years. It included almost 2 feet of snow as well as major ice storms, then followed by 70 mile-an- hour winds that were devastating--80,000 people lost their electricity, many of them for a week. The economic devastation is truly remarkable. Now in the last 12 hours even more disaster is occurring. I am going to read just briefly from the major newspaper in my State, which is in the largest city of our State, Fargo, ND. The article begins this way: At 12:15 a.m. today, the flood of 1997 officially became the worst in Fargo-Moorhead's history. The National Weather Service said a reading taken at that time put the Red River's level at 39.12 feet. That exceeds . . . the river level measured in the flood of 1897--until this morning, the worst ever. That also means the Red [River] has hit the 500-year flood level. Speaking on [a local] radio [station] at 1:15 a.m., city Operations Manager Dennis Walaker struck an ominous note. Walaker said, ``We are at river stages that exceed the 1897 level. No one has ever seen this much water in the Fargo area, ever. All we can do is react.'' I just talked to the mayor, and I just talked to Mr. Walaker. He tells me they have 15 square miles of water headed for Fargo, ND. This on top of the river which is 20 feet above flood stage. There is just a mass scramble to try to deal with this extraordinary flood threat. The crest is not expected to be much higher than [about 39.5 feet] but officials will reevaluate the situation this morning. . . . Iced-over farm fields liquefied. Shelterbelt snowdrifts shrank. Drainage ditches whooshed into coulees and merged with rivers. In rural Cass County . . . winter turned into water. By noon, sheets of melted snow rolled toward the Red River. Water that couldn't fit into engorged rivers, particularly the Wild Rice River, took off over land. The overland flows crossed I-29-- The major north-south Federal highway-- near the Horace exit and threatened homes in southwest Fargo. At midmorning, [the mayor] warned residents of approaching overland flooding. He suggested people leave work and check their property if they live in-- Certain residential areas. By midafternoon, some students were leaving [schools] because of the flood threat. The situation was even more urgent next to the Red River. Fargo-Moorhead homeowners who hadn't lost the battle Tuesday asked for more sandbags and sandbaggers. North Dakota State University canceled classes so students could help in the fight. I will not go further, Mr. President, other than to say this is absolutely an extraordinary time. One of the areas in which we have been hit the hardest is cattle death losses. The number of cattle losses are at least 112,000 head at this point. North Dakota Farm Service Agency reports that nearly 80,000 of them are from the weekend storm of April 4 through 6 alone, a storm that is being called Blizzard Hannah. I fear, Mr. President, that many more calves may die. This is such an extraordinary set of events. These pictures depict some of the situations and scenes that we are seeing across the State of North Dakota. Here, one cow is nuzzling a calf with a dead cow alongside. What happened in this storm, which was so powerful, is that not only did cattle freeze to death, but many suffocated because the winds were so intense that compacted snow was blown up into their nostrils and they suffocated. Mr. President, this next picture shows what we are seeing all too often. Here a farmer is coming down the road to inspect the herd. Here is a cow dead in a ditch. All across North Dakota, carcasses are littered after this devastation. Here is an all-too-often sight. This is a cow frozen in a snow bank. It is not just a snow bank, it is actually ice and snow together. People report that these snow banks are like concrete. There was first this heavy snowfall, then the ice, then these incredible winds. These cattle did not have a chance. For that reason, today I am introducing legislation that will provide for an indemnification payment. I hope that this legislation will be enacted. I hope that my colleagues will understand the massive economic loss in my State. Under this legislation, producers who have experienced a 5-percent loss of their cattle herd or calf crop would receive indemnity payments of $200 per head, up to 200 of lost livestock. In some cases, losses will be covered by private insurance. In these instances, producers will be able to receive indemnity payments under my program, but the total payments of private insurance and Government indemnity cannot exceed the expected value of a cow. I have been working with my colleagues from the Dakotas, Senator Dorgan from North Dakota, and Senator Daschle and Senator Johnson from South Dakota to implement assistance to livestock producers in North Dakota and South Dakota. We will continue working to provide meaningful, comprehensive relief. Cattle producers in my State have asked for something simple and something that will help them overcome these overwhelming difficulties. My legislation accomplishes those goals, and I call on my colleagues to offer this assistance to livestock producers. I understand I have a colleague standing by who would like to have time as well, so I do not want to extend this, other than to send the legislation to the desk and ask it be appropriately referred. I introduce it on behalf of myself and my colleague from North Dakota, Senator Dorgan. I urge my colleagues' close attention to it. Again, Mr. President, we are faced with what I call a slow-motion disaster, because it is a circumstance in which you do not have the flood come and leave. In this circumstance, the flood has come, and it is staying. In addition to that, we have all of these other severe weather factors to cope with. I, again, hope that we will move expeditiously with the supplemental disaster legislation so that we can fund the programs necessary to help in the recovery that is so urgently needed, not only in my State but in the States of Minnesota and South Dakota as well.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, if the Chair would alert me when I have 1 minute remaining, I would appreciate that.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise to give my third report on the disaster that is still developing in North Dakota after the most severe winter storm in 50 years on top of the most heavy snowfall of any winter in our history on top of the worst flooding in 150 years. Last night, late yesterday, we had a serious situation develop because the main dike protecting Fargo, ND, which is the largest city in my State, sprang a leak. I talked last night to both the mayor and the head of the Corps of Engineers for our area, Colonel Wonzik. They told me they intended to build a second dike inside of the main dike to contain any burst that might occur. I am pleased to report this morning that that effort is well underway and that the leaking has been contained at this point. But all of us understand that this is an extraordinary situation. These dikes are expected to stand up for much longer than would usually be the case because the flood conditions are so unusual. We have now been told that the crest may last for as long as a week, and that puts enormous pressure, not only on the dikes that were constructed by the Corps of Engineers, but on the dikes that were constructed by literally hundreds of individual homeowners who, in some cases, built walls of sandbags 15 feet high to protect their homes and neighborhoods. I brought with me today some photographs that show the extent of the damage that has been done by this extraordinary storm. This first chart shows power lines. I do not know if people are able to see it, but it shows about 3 inches of ice that line the power line. Of course, what has happened is first we had a massive ice storm and then 70-mile-an- hour winds. The result was the power poles came down. They snapped like they were toothpicks. It is really extraordinary. I drove into one town, and coming from the north side there was power pole after power pole just snapped off. This is a condition that led to over 80,000 people being without power. Thankfully, most of those people's power is now restored, although power for some still is not, and this is from a week ago Saturday. Can you imagine being without power for that extended period of time when conditions outside were, at their worst, 40 below wind chill and no heat? We have reports of one fellow who started burning fence posts in his house to keep warm. Others who were using propane heaters, putting them in one room and the family gathering around the propane heater in order to keep warm. This picture shows a string of power poles, all knocked down by these extraordinary conditions. Let me just say, if I can, that there has been an extraordinary response. We want to say thank you to the power companies that supply North Dakota for flying in extra crews from around the country to help out. I want to take this moment to especially thank our neighbors to the north, because the Governor informed me last Monday that we were faced with a situation in which Manitoba Hydro wanted to send in crews to help us restore power lines, but they were being held up at the border by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. We called them and they immediately gave us a 2-week waiver on all of their requirements at the border, and Manitoba Hydro sent in over 100 people, crews, to help rebuild power lines in North Dakota--I think just an extraordinary act of neighborliness by our neighbors to the north in Canada. We deeply appreciate their action. This shows the conditions and the power of this storm. You see this picture shows this power pole just snapped, again, like a toothpick. It is absolutely shattered by the force of these ice storms followed by extraordinarily high winds. This photo shows the difficult conditions that the workers had to contend with in trying to rebuild these lines. Again, 80,000 people without power, most of them for 4 or 5 days. Here they are, working in these very difficult conditions, trying to rebuild lines. This photo shows, on a farmstead, the kind of heavy equipment that was needed just to get an opening to get through to where the power poles were down. We had in parts of our State 24 inches of snow in this last storm. The people at the University of North Dakota tell me this was the most powerful winter storm in 50 years, and in North Dakota we have had some powerful winter storms. This year alone we have had eight blizzards and six winter storms that put over 100 inches of snow on the ground before this storm. And this storm, of course, was extraordinary by anyone's measure. This picture shows, again, the extraordinarily difficult conditions the workmen were facing trying to rebuild lines. Jobs that would normally take 2 or 3 hours were taking 10 to 12 hours in order to rebuild these facilities and get power back to people so they could have heat. Can you imagine being without power? We have all gotten so used to having electricity that I think we sometimes forget how important and central it is to our lives. Just heat alone in our part of the country is absolutely critical. Can you imagine being without any heat in your home for a week when it is extremely cold outside? And not having electricity for any of the conveniences of modern life? This is what these people have been contending with. I must say, we have seen really heroic actions. I remember being in one town and the mayor described how one of the underground tunnels that carried water was blocked. They called in the fire department that had a man who was a diver. They asked him--remember, this is 40-below wind chill--they asked him to dive down in 6 or 7 feet of water to open up that valve so the water could flow. That takes courage. That young fellow did not hesitate. He went down and unblocked that line that otherwise would have led to far greater flooding. These kinds of heroic efforts have been repeated over and over. We have had Coast Guard crews in North Dakota. Some people must be wondering, Coast Guard in North Dakota? North Dakota is landlocked. Why would we be having Coast Guard crews in a State like North Dakota? Very simply, those Coast Guard crews have background and experience and training in water rescue. They can tell some harrowing tales of going out and rescuing people who were in automobiles or were in homes that were surrounded by water. One of the things members of these rescue crews said to me is: Senator, we have never worked in a situation in which we were blocked by ice. We are used to dealing with water, but we are not used to dealing with ice on top of the water and having to break through ice in order to get through to people to save them. Obviously, not all of the stories have had happy endings. We had a terrible tragedy of a young woman and her 3-year-old daughter who were in a car that went off the road. Water filled it. They were able to escape somehow and then tried to walk to a home that they knew about that was out in the country, a farmstead. Unfortunately, the rivers in this part of the State wind in a very unpredictable way and what they encountered, as they were walking in the bitterly cold weather, soaking wet, was, once again, the river. That young woman and her child died in a field south of Fargo, ND. There are many other stories, tragic stories, and stories of extraordinary heroism, where people were able to make a difference in saving lives and saving property. I will just conclude by saying I hope we move the disaster supplemental bill with dispatch. I hope we move that legislation in a way that will provide sufficient funding to be able to manage this latest crisis. I yield the floor.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. If I could just add, I think one of the things that gets lost is why balancing the budget has so much merit. If we balance the budget and the economists are correct that that would reduce interest rates by 1 percent, that would mean on a typical mortgage, a savings of $900 a year. Over 5 years it would be over $4,500 in savings for a homeowner. On a car loan, that would be savings of $400, and approximately $1,000 a year in savings to the typical North Dakota farmer because of interest savings. I think we have to keep our eye on the ball here. The first and most important step we can take is to balance this budget. That will reduce interest expenses on nonfinancial sector debt by $145 billion. That will provide enormous lift to this economy. That is really the single best thing we could do for the country. I yield the floor.

Mr. CONRAD. Maybe they ought to have to file for an extension.

Mr. CONRAD. I am afraid it is. The law says: ``Before April 15 of each year, the Congress shall complete action on a concurrent resolution on the budget for the fiscal year beginning on October 1.'' We are not just supposed to have completed the budget in this Chamber. The entire Congress is to have completed the budget plan by today. We have not even started. We have not even started in the Senate Budget Committee to consider a plan. I fear the reason is that our colleagues on the other side and all over America in the last campaign promised they would cut this tax, that tax, and every tax, and when they came back here to try to see how it would add up, they find, wait a minute, it does not add up. In fact, the only way you can get it to add up is to have cuts that are even deeper than the ones they proposed last year in Medicare, education, and environmental protection. So our friends on the other side have a real problem. The problem is their rhetoric does not match reality. The problem is they do not have a plan that adds up. It does not balance. As I said in my statement, what is critically important is that we work together to get a plan that does balance. That will be the best thing we can do for American taxpayers and the American economy. It will mean greater economic growth. It will mean a stronger economy. As I indicated, a 1-percent reduction in interest rates, which is what the economists tell us we will get if we balance the budget, will save those who have debt--corporations, individuals, families--$145 billion in a year. That will provide more lift to the economy. That is the best lift we can give this economy of anything that we could do. We favor targeted tax relief to middle-income folks that, in fact, are under a lot of economic pressure. That makes sense. Some of these tax schemes the people have floated that give the overwhelming weight of the tax reduction to the wealthiest among us, and then do not permit you to have a plan that adds up, does not make any sense. It is not the right course for the country. I think that is why they really have not come up with a plan. They have not begun to come up with a plan because most of those who have tried to get these numbers to add up know that they do not.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, today is an important day for Americans. April 15 is the deadline for all Americans to file and pay their individual taxes. I know that, I was signing my returns yesterday to make sure they were sent off. I had to write a check--not as big a check as last year, I was glad for that, but, nonetheless, had to pay some additional tax in addition to what was withheld. All across America, people are engaged in that last moment of frantic scrambling to make sure they file their taxes. Today is another deadline as well. Today is the deadline for the Congress of the United States to pass the budget for the year. And that gives rise to the question that I put on this chart: Where is the budget? We are not going to pass a budget for the next year here today. There is not even one before the U.S. Senate. But it is even worse than that, because the Budget Committee had a deadline of April 1, and we have not even considered a budget in the Budget Committee. I am a member of the Budget Committee and have been a member for 10 years. There is no budget that the Republicans--who control the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, and, as a result, they control the budget committees--have put before us. We have the budget from the President which they have criticized, but we have no budget from them. Mr. President, it is time for those on the other side of the aisle to come forward with their budget proposal. What we have heard from them is endless proposals for tax cuts aimed at the wealthiest among us. We have heard the Speaker even assert that we can eliminate capital gains taxes and eliminate estate taxes and have a major tax cut for children, but he does not put forward a plan that shows us how this would all add up. Where would the cuts be to not only eliminate the deficit, but to pay for the tax cuts? There is no plan. It is easy to talk about things we would all like to have if you do not ever have to make it add up. The difficult part of the budget process is to try to come up with a plan that will balance the budget. All of us know that requires spending cuts. Spending cuts are painful. We also know that there is a need for tax reduction in the country. I have supported a plan. We had the centrist coalition last year, 10 Democrats, 10 Republicans, that worked together for hundreds of hours and put together a plan that was a consensus of our group on a bipartisan basis. We brought that plan to the floor of the Senate, and we received 46 votes, about evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Frankly, that is what it is going to take again this year. But when I hear our friends on the other side of the aisle assert that it is this side of the aisle that is responsible for budget deficits, I think we then have to talk about the record and talk about the facts. Here is the record and here are the facts. If we look at the last three administrations and look at the record on the deficit, it is very clear who has performed and who has talked. This is the record during the Reagan administration. He took office in 1981. The unified deficit for that year was $79 billion. It promptly shot up to over $200 billion and largely stayed that way through the Reagan administration. Then the Bush administration came into office and started with a unified deficit of $153 billion. By the time the Bush administration was finished, they had a deficit of $290 billion. Then President Clinton came into office, and the first year, the unified deficit was $255 billion, and each and every year, the deficit went down: $203 billion the second year of the Clinton administration, $164 billion the third year, and this chart shows $116 billion, but it actually wound up somewhat better than that. The deficit came in at $107 billion. All of that occurred because we put in place a budget plan in 1993 to cut spending and, yes, raise revenue on the wealthiest among us. The wealthiest 1 percent of this country were asked to pay somewhat more, and we cut spending about $250 billion over a 5-year period. Over 10 years, that deficit reduction package reduced the deficit $2.5 trillion. That is an extraordinary record of deficit reduction. In fact, now we are told that the unified deficit this year, the year that will end on September 30, will come in at about $91 billion. That will be 5 years in a row of deficit reduction. I just think if we are going to have a serious debate here over who has done what, then we ought to look at the facts, and we ought to talk about who, in fact, did have the courage to stand up and vote for that 1993 budget package, which the other side said would crater the economy. They said it would increase the deficit. They said it would increase unemployment. They said it would reduce economic growth. They were wrong on every single score. It reduced the deficit every single year. It reduced unemployment. We have had nearly 12 million jobs created in the United States since we put that plan in place, and we have had a large economic expansion in this country. That is the record. Those are the facts. If we are going to finally achieve closure of this and actually balance the budget, then it is going to take both sides working together, because the Republicans control the Congress, the Democrats control the White House, and nothing is going to happen unless we work together. Last year, those of us who participated in the centrist coalition that involved Democrats and Republicans on an equal basis found the effort one of the most rewarding we have engaged in while we have been privileged to be part of this body, because we did work together. Nobody was running out and holding press conferences attacking the other side. Nobody was trying to get over on the other side. There were no raised voices. There was calm reasoning to try to achieve a result that we all understood was important for our country. Why is it important for the country? Mr. President, what is at stake here is the economic future of the country. This chart shows our children's economic position in the year 2035 in terms of the gross national product of the United States. This is on a per person basis. Very recently, the Congressional Budget Office issued a report and told us this: If we fail to act, the per capita size of our economy will be $33,200 in the year 2035. But if we would balance the budget on a unified basis--and I do not consider a unified balance a true balancing of the budget, but at least it is a step in the right direction--then the per capita size of our economy would be $40,900 in the year 2035. We would have much more income per person in this country if we moved toward balancing the budget. That is the message of this chart. Why is that the case? It is the case because if we are not deficit spending, we are not eating into the societal savings account. The more savings you have, the more investment that is possible. The more investment you have, the stronger the economic growth. That is the key to the future of America's economy, and it is why it is critically important to actually balance the budget. It is not just some abstract idea. It is critically important to the economic future and health of America. Mr. President, we hear some on the other side saying they are going to cut this tax, that tax, we are going to cut all taxes. On our side, we say we ought to have targeted tax relief. Middle-class families need tax relief. We are in favor of that. When we start talking about reducing taxes that primarily are paid by the wealthiest among us, it really does not make sense to do that and jeopardize balancing the budget. Why not? Because the biggest help that we can be to this economy is to balance that budget. Let me just indicate that when people start talking about what will help promote growth in this economy, they look closely at the benefits of balancing the budget. Balancing the unified budget is expected to reduce interest rates by about 1 percent. In an economy with $14.5 trillion in nonfinancial sector debt, a 1-percent reduction in interest rates means an $145 billion boost to the economy in 1 year. That dwarfs any of the tax cuts that are being talked about in terms of providing a lift to the economy. So the truth of the matter is the best tax cut that we can give, the best tax cut, the most effective tax cut, is one that leads to a balanced budget. The only way we do that, obviously, is to cut spending that has contributed to the budget deficit, and have a revenue stream that balances with the spending. That is how you balance a budget. It is not just spending. It is the combination of spending and revenue that has to be in balance. So those who talk about massive tax cuts will have to come down here at some point with a plan that shows how it adds up. They have not done it. They did not do it by April 1 in the Budget Committee which was their responsibility. They have not done it by today, which is by law their responsibility. So we are waiting. We are asking the question, where is the budget? When they come with a budget plan, it needs to add up. That is in the long-term interests of the United States. Mr. President, I will yield the floor.