Despite attempts by Democrats and some Senate Republicans, Senate-House conferees agreed to only $409 million disaster aid assistance for Gulf farmers as part of the supplemental war spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.
As part of the $108.9 billion bill, the Senate originally approved $3.9 billion agricultural disaster aid - including $1.5 billion for disaster energy assistance. The House's $91.9 billion bill did not include the ag disaster funding.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., served on the House-Senate conference committee that negotiated the final version of the emergency appropriations bill, but said the President pressured members of the committee to drop the agriculture disaster package. "With only one House Republican on our side, House members insisted on providing farmers with only 10% of the needed funding," Durbin says.
President Bush threatened a veto if the total measure exceeded $92.2 billion plus and additional $2.3 billion for implementation of his avian influenza pandemic preparedness plan.
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