WASHINGTON-
Colorado ranchers hit by back-to-back blizzards are in line to share some of the $3 billion in disaster aid attached to an Iraq war funding bill signed by President Bush Friday.
Bush signed the $120 billion emergency spending measure, passed by Congress Thursday night. The bill primarily funds the Iraq war through September, but farm-state lawmakers were able to attach the agriculture aid after repeatedly failing to get it into other legislation.
The lawmakers argued the money belonged in the bill because damage to crops and livestock created an emergency. In Colorado, farmers and ranchers suffered heavy losses in this winter’s blizzards, which followed several summers of drought.
“Colorado’s farmers and ranchers are grateful that their voices have been heard,” said Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo. “This funding will go a long way to supporting our small farms in southeastern Colorado.”
The bill includes assistance for farmers who lost 35 percent of more of their crop in 2005, 2006 and the first two months of 2007, as well as those who lost livestock in counties that received natural disaster declarations by the Agriculture Department in the same years.
Farmers can receive a disaster payment for only one of the three years, and only farmers who insured their crop or were covered by the Non-Insured Assistance Program are eligible.
The amount of money that would go to Colorado farmers was not immediately available.
“After working for months to get disaster aid to these producers, I am glad we have provided a funding bill that will reach the president’s desk soon,” said Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo.
The money in the final bill was about $1.9 billion less than a version circulated earlier this year.
The emergency spending bill was contentious for several reasons. For one, Bush has long said he opposes the farm disaster aid, which he feels is unnecessary and excessive.
Even more controversial was a deadline for troop withdrawal included in earlier versions. Those previous bills bounced between the Democratic-controlled Congress and the White House in a standoff over the war.
Democrats backed off the deadline this week, sending Bush a measure he agreed to sign as soon as he received it from Congress.
