Senate approves drought relief funding despite Bush protest

WASHINGTON -- Defying President Bush by a huge, bipartisan majority, the Senate voted Tuesday to provide nearly $6 billion in emergency drought relief to farmers and ranchers that the administration has opposed as too costly.

The vote was 79-16, with two-thirds of Republicans joining nearly all Democrats to help Farm Belt states, which many strategists believe will play a decisive role in the contest for control of the Senate in the November elections.

The margin of defeat -- the most resounding so far for Bush's effort to hold the line on domestic appropriations -- underscored the difficulty of trying to squeeze popular programs in an election year.

"This is an emergency. We need this help ... . Provide us with assistance. Do what is right," said Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., whose home state is one of those hardest hit by the widespread drought.

Some Republicans complained that the Daschle-drafted proposal was a thinly disguised Democratic effort to woo critical states in the mid-term elections.

"Unfortunately, the vote ... was just a political statement," said Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who voted against the measure.

Few challenged it openly, however, knowing it was headed for easy passage and was highly popular in many states whose farmers have suffered.

One Republican who did challenge it, Sen. Phil Gramm, of Texas, who is not seeking re-election this fall, accused the Senate of being "willing to throw fiscal restraint out the door" by adding $6 billion to a deficit that is "swelling daily."

He didn't want to hear any more lecturers from Democrats about deficit spending, he added. "Do we want these deficits to go even higher, or are we willing to take a stand?" he asked.

The drought aid would come on top of the record-high farm subsidy bill that Congress passed earlier this year, which is projected to cost $180 billion over the next decade.

In a letter to senators earlier this week, Agriculture Secretary Anne Veneman reiterated the administration's opposition to the aid and said any drought assistance should be financed out of the farm bill.

But Senate Democrats said that House Republicans, with administration backing, had refused to include funding to help cover the current livestock and crop losses in the measure. They also said that spending under the new farm bill would fall $5.6 billion short of projections, covering most of the cost of the proposed drought aid.

The aid was approved as part of the Interior Department appropriations bill for next year, and the vote margin was more than the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto, which the White House has threatened.

But the Republican-led House has not yet approved any drought aid, and several senators said Tuesday that the House would almost certainly balk at the Senate's $6 billion price tag. They said the administration is likely to push for a smaller package, possibly $1 billion or $2 billion, with at least some of the cost offset by specific savings from other programs.

While such aid is routinely approved for victims of tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters, the drought-aid package took on special significance this year because of many of the states with the biggest losses are those with the closest Senate races this fall.