Support Funding
for USDA Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant
Program and other drought
relief programs: Your
assistance is needed immediately. Please contact your Congressman and ask them
to sign a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittee. This letter is asking for $75 million for the USDA Emergency Community
Water Assistance Grant Program, $25 million for the Emergency Loan Assistance
Program, and adequate funding for other drought relief programs in the Fiscal
Year 2003 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related
Agencies bill. The letter also asks that these programs be included in the next
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill to be considered by the Congress. The
tri-partisan letter, known as a "Dear Collegue Letter", is being circulated by
Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Sherwood Boehert (R-NY) and Rep James Langevin
(D-RI) Much
of our country faces a very dangerous drought situation which Congress and the
President must address. According to a recent opinion-editorial that appeared
in the New York Times by Peter Gleick, the director of the Pacific Institute for
Studies in Development, Environment and Security the problem is nationwide: "Up
and down the East Coast, scientific evidence is revealing the extent and severity
of what could be the deepest drought of the past 100 years. Forest fires in Maine,
usually snuffed by snow, burn to the ground. The Potomac River has dipped to historic
lows. New England is experiencing one of its driest winters since records started
being kept. The United States Drought Monitor, a joint project of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and various academic partners, has classified
the entire coast from Georgia to Maine as in "severe" or "extreme" drought conditions
.... Tensions have been growing since 1998 between Texas and Mexico over low flows
in the Rio Grande. Farmers in southern Oregon went to battle with the government
and the environmental community last summer over water shortages in the Klamath
River basin." There
is a growing concern that, without the recovery of moisture in the soils, there
will be a large decline in crop production as well as a decline in livestock feed
available this coming season. For farmers who are already struggling with low
prices, this is not good news. The
drought also directly impacts rural homeowners and renters whose wells go dry.
The cost of new wells is often more than middle and low-income families can afford.
Even if precipitation improves, and we receive the normal amount of rain and snow
this spring, those whose wells and water systems that are low or out of water
now will still be facing serious problems as we approach summer. Further,
there is the growing danger of forest fires. That, combined with the dryness caused
by the drought, raises serious concern for our local fire fighters as summer approaches.
Clearly,
this drought is a major national problem. It is imperative that Congress and the
White House do all that it is possible to aggressively help people all over this
country who are going to be hurt by this. This is not only an agricultural issue
or a rural America issue. The drought can negatively impact our entire economy.
The
USDA Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant Program provides assistance to
rural communities with populations of less than 10,000 for the construction of
water resources. The Emergency Loan Assistance Program through the USDA Farm Service
Agency, helps to cover production and physical losses in counties declared federal
disaster areas by the President. Unfortunately, the Administration budget request
for 2003 did not provide any funding for these important programs. Action
Plan---The Fiscal Year 2003 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration and Related Agencies legislation is now being drafted in the House
of Representatives. Please ask your US Representatives to immediately sign the
Rep. Sanders/Rep. Boehert/Rep. Langevin "Dear Colleague" letter to Chairman Bonilla
and Ranking Member Kaptur asking for $75 million for the USDA Emergency Community
Water Assistance Grant Program, $25 million for the Emergency Loan Assistance
Program, and adequate funding for other drought relief programs. Thank
you for your grassroots participation in the National Grange Legislative Program.
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