Drought

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. About 2 weeks ago, I visited a farm near my home town of Springfield, IL to see the impact of the ongoing drought.

From the road, I couldn't tell there was anything wrong with the crop.

But as we went into the field, it quickly became clear that the crop was in poor shape.

Following that visit, I met with the Illinois corn growers and the soybean growers and farmers from across the state.

The message I heard was straightforward; it is as bad or worse than it has been in decades.

Since that visit to a Springfield farm, drought conditions have only gotten worse.

100 percent of Illinois and 64 percent of the country is facing severe or harsher drought conditions.

Today, USDA announced 66 additional Illinois counties as primary disaster counties.

With this announcement, all but four counties, Will, Cook, Kane, DuPage--in Illinois qualify for disaster assistance

Very little rain, combined with abnormally high temperatures, is decimating many of the primary crop-growing areas of the country.

71 percent of the corn crop and 56 percent of the soybean crop in Illinois is rated as poor or very poor.

This is in a State that regularly ranks as a top producer for both of these commodities.

That means feed prices for livestock and eventually food prices for the rest of us are increasing.

Everyone is going to feel the impact of this historic drought

In response to conditions on the ground, Governor Quinn created a multi-agency drought task force in Illinois.

The task force is coordinating State and Federal resources to ensure producers and communities are receiving the timely assistance.

President Obama and Secretary Vilsack have done a commendable job of taking steps to help provide assistance to impacted producers and communities.

They have sped up the disaster declaration process helping producers more quickly gain access to the limited disaster programs currently available.

They have reduced interest rates on emergency loans.

They have made it easier for land that is in conservation to open earlier for haying and grazing for livestock producers.

And the administration is working with crop insurance companies to try to give producers more time to make premium payments.

But we can do more.

And since we can't make rain, the single most important step Congress can take is to pass a farm bill.

Most farmers will tell you they can survive one bad year.

But right now farmers can't even plan for future years.

More than a month ago, the Senate passed the Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Act, more commonly known as the farm bill, with a 64--35 bipartisan vote.

The bill would reauthorize several expired disaster programs to immediately help producers.

Equally, if not more important, the bill would provide certainty for producers--allowing them to make long-term plans for getting through this drought and recovering from a bad year.

Unfortunately the House has failed to act.

In the roughly 40 days since the Senate passed a bill, the House has not even brought a companion measure to the House floor. During those 40 days another 20 percent of the country has developed drought conditions. During those 40 days, 98 of 102 counties in Illinois qualified for disaster assistance. During those 40 days, many farmers in Illinois have lost their crops.

It is well past time for the House to take up and pass a farm bill that includes robust disaster assistance paired with the long-term policy farmers need.

I will repeat something I said 2 weeks ago.

Our producers and rural America already face a natural disaster. I don't think it is too much that we spare them a manmade disaster by failing to pass a farm bill.

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