And the destructive impact that can have, the way they would close down roads, the difficulty they would create for people. And obviously the loss of livestock that comes with that. Weve seen over the years blizzards that have taken their toll on one of our states most important industries. But the storm damage that i saw yesterday when i toured western south dakota really was epic. You cant look at the mountains and branches that were piled high waiting fordice posal or the for disposal or scenes of pastures scattered with dead livestock. This snowstorm started out, madam president , as heavy rain. And i know the distinguished chair had much of this in her state of north dakota as well. But that soaked the livestock. Then it turned into a raging blizzard with heavy snow and sustaining winds of 60 to 70 miles an hour. These winds drove livestock for miles, some more than 12 miles from their pastures. The fortunate ones lasted through the storms miles from their origination but still alive. As i speak, south dakota ranchers are still assessing their losses trying to determine ownership of those that survived but are miles away from home and hauling away or burying the tens of thousands of livestock. To add more challenges to an already devastating situation, this area is now experiencing heavy rains, flash flood warnings have been issued this morning through areas of the black hills with additional two inches or more of rain in the forecast. This storm damaged areas of 17 counties in south dakota that contained more than 6,000 ranches and more than a million cattle and sheep. For most of these ranchers, their livestock is their sole source of livelihood. These ranchers have a 365dayayear obligation to care for their livestock which they have done for generation after generation. And i want to show you just the impact, madam president , of this storm and what it did to some of these livestock. This was an area we saw from a helicopter yesterday where a lowlying area. There are upwards of 40, 50 head of livestock that are lying there dead in that area. We saw numerous examples just like that yesterday. This, madam president , is a photo that we took yesterday of trucks, rendering trucks that are coming to pick up some of the dead livestock. As you can see, not only the trucks filled up, but there are livestock along this road. And we saw that situation, that image over and over again yesterday as well along highways in western south dakota. And so, the point im simply making, madam president , is this was an incredibly powerful, impactful storm that created enormous amount of damage to the numberone industry in western south dakota. And the people who work the land, people who raise these animals, theyre independent, theyre hardworking. These ranchers are the best friends and neighbors that anyone could have, always willing to lend a helping hand. And they are the first to provide assistance and the last to seek it. And the best thing that we can do right now, the most effective assistance that we can offer them, madam president , right now is found in the livestock disaster section of the farm bill which has passed here in the senate, has now passed in the house of representatives and is awaiting action by a Conference Committee. The Livestock Indemnity Program known as lip was something that senator baucus and i authored as part of the 2008 farm bill and it provides muchneeded Financial Assistance to these livestock producers. But in order to get this assistance to them, a new farm bill has to be passed. This program, the Livestock Indemnity Program, or the lip program in the farm bill, is fully paid for with cuts in other farm programs. And is has eliminated the need for ad hoc Disaster Assistance that was the standard Emergency Assistance in past years. I remember past years when i was a member of the house of representatives, madam president , Something Like this would happen, and we would have to come to congress for ad hoc Disaster Assistance, Emergency Assistance. The whole point of getting a disaster title in the farm bill was to eliminate the need for that ad hoc Disaster Assistance on an annual, sometimes, basis. And so this title was put in the farm bill back in 2008. It created a permanent program, paid for, and as i said the one in the farm bill that is being considered now is offset by cuts, other areas of the farm bill. And what were waiting for is for the conferees to get together in a conference to work out the differences between the two bill and to report them back to the house and to the senate where they can be voted on, hopefully passed and put on the president s desk. And thats what its going to take to get assistance back to these livestock producers because the existing disaster title, as i said, Livestock Indemnity Program in the disaster title the farm bill expired, expired at the end of 2011. And when we passed a bill in the senate in 2012, it reauthorized it. And in the farm bill that passed this year, it has been reauthorized. But until we get the farm bill passed, that authority that can help producers in circumstances like this no longer exist. And so thats why we have got to get conferees together in a Conference Committee and ultimately a bill on the president s desk that can be signed into law that would allow the department of agriculture to issue the regulations that are necessary to put this program back into effect. Ive been encouraged by reports that ive heard that theyre going to soon name conferees to move a farm bill forward in the house. I wrote a letter earlier this week to Speaker Boehner asking him to name conferees so the Conference Committee could begin its work and make this Assistance Available to livestock producers. Ive also sent a letter to vary vilsack asking him to determine that the Farm Service Agency personnel in the impacted counties are essential so that they can open these offices and begin the process of preparing Damage Assessment reports that are going to be needed for federal disaster declarations. The distinguished chair mentioned in her remarks the need, the impact that this is having in western south dakota and Western North dakota. The Farm Service Agency personnel are not working and in this circumstances, they are the ones that the producers would go to and that the states and affected parties would look to to do the Damage Assessments. And so im hoping that secretary vilsack, he has that authority particularly in this sort of situation where you have an emergency to declare these people as essential and get them back on the job so they can begin those Damage Assessments and prepare the way for, hopefully when a farm bill passes and the disaster title is authorized again. And so, those are a couple of things that have to happen, in my view, madam president , fairly quickly. And ill be the first to say that ive had concerns about the farm bill as it worked its way through the process here. There were some things in the commodity title that i thought could have been done differently. Perhaps a better policy approach and arguably something thats more compliant with our world trade obligations World Trade Organization obligations and less market distorting. There were a number of things in the commodity title, things in other title of the bill we had concerns with but there were a number of things in the farm bill we worked very, very hard to have included in there and the disaster title was one of those. And so im hoping that as this farm bill works its way through the process and hopefully its conferees get named by the house of representatives, they can begin their work, work out some of those differences. And i will continue to be a strong proponent of the livestock Disaster Assistance that was created in the 2008 farm bill and included both versions of the 2013 farm bill, both the one that passed the house and the one that passed the senate. And i appreciate the work that chairman, senator stabenow has done, our ranking member, senator cochran for their tireless toefrts try to get a new efforts to get a new farm bill enacted as soon as possible. This past weeks snowstorm is only one example of the urgency behind that to get it done so the programs can represent the farmers and millions and others who rely on agriculture. In my state of south dakota it is our number one industry. We have so many farm and ranch families who look to their leadership here in washington, d. C. To provide some certainty with regard to the rules that theyre going to play by. And when we do extensions like the one that were in the middle of right now, we did a oneyear extension last year of the old farm bill, but we dont make the reforms, some of the changes that are necessary to update a farm policy and we dont give producers the certainty that they need as they make their Planning Decisions for the future. And so getting a fiveyear, a multiyear reauthorization in place is really important and its really timely. And my hope would be that in the very near future that the conferees can sit down, they can work out the differences between the two bills, reconcile those differences and get this thing moving again. And i say that not only because its critically important to these livestock producers in western south dakota, but because its critically important to all producers across south dakota. The farmers in the eastern part of my state, the people in the entire farm belt, the regions of this country that depend upon agriculture for their existence need to know what the policies are going to be, what the rules are going to be so they can plan and plan effectively and so that we have the mechanisms in place, so that when Something Like this happens, like happened in western south dakota this past week, there is a mechanism in place, there is a way in which we can respond and provide support for the hardworking farmers and ranchers and the millions of people whose jobs rely on agriculture. So, madam president , it was a very looking at those images yesterday was very, very gripping, very, in many ways very disturbing. As you fly over these areas and you see this massive losses of livestock and you realize what that means for the people who are out there every single day who for generations have made their living on the land by raising these cattle and have contributed in such an enormous and significant way to the economy, not only western south dakota but to this entire economy and the people who literally every single day are out there feeding not only america, but feeding the world. Agriculture has a tremendous impact obviously domestically but it has a profound impact around the world, and it is something that from an economic standpoint creates thousands and thousands and millions of jobs here in this country. So i hope we can get this farm bill done. I hope the conferees will get named soon by the house and that well be on our way toward passage of the farm bill and hopefully the certainty that producers across this country need and the ability to respond to this type of an emergency. Madam president , i yield the floor. Mrs. Shaheen madam president . The presiding officer the senator from New Hampshire. Mrs. Shaheen thank you, madam president. Were now in the 11th day of this unnecessary Government Shutdown. And just as my colleague from south dakota, senator thune, pointed out, there are some impacts in south dakota as a result of this shutdown. Were seeing those very real consequences in New Hampshire as well, and im sure youre seeing those in north dakota. Its become clear to me by talking to people in New Hampshire that the longer the shutdown goes on, the worse the impact on families, on Small Businesses, on people who need the services from this government. But as difficult as the shutdown is, theres actually another crisis that looms on the horizon that would have even more disastrous consequences for our economy. Thats the possibility of a first ever default on this countrys debt. For the first time ever, if we default, the country would not pay the bills that it has incurred, the bills that it has incurred because of decisions made by this congress or previous congresses. As economists across the ideological spectrum have warned, the consequences of a default would be severe. We could see businesses stop hiring. That would have an impact, as were already seeing as the result of this shutdown on the economic recovery that were experiencing. Retirement accounts and families nest eggs would lose much of their value in a very short time. Interest rates would rise, which would mean higher costs for consumers, for Small Businesses and for the federal government, as we need to borrow. And Consumer Confidence, which is so important for Small Businesses and for the economy, would drop sharply. Now some people have suggested that these are scare tactics, but these consequences are very real. And we know that because weve been here before. In 2011, which was the last time we came close to defaulting on our debt, the mere prospect of that default was enough to have Significant Impact on our economy. In late july and early august of 2011, the period that led up to the debt deal in 2011, the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 2,000. Points. As a result, American Families saw their Household Wealth plummet by 2. 4 trillion. We saw a sharp drop in Consumer Confidence. And, by the way, the current circumstances that were in have seen a similar drop in Consumer Confidence over the concerns about the shutdown and the default. In the last few weeks, weve seen the biggest drop in Consumer Confidence since Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008. And then in 2011, our Credit Rating was downgraded for the first time in americas history and the crisis in 2011 resulted in 1. 3 billion in additional borrowing costs for the federal government, thereby increasing the nations debt. So for all those people who sa said, were were not going to raise the debt ceiling, were not going to pay the bills this country has incurred because were worried about the debt and deficits we face . The fact is, that action alone increased our debt by 1. 3 billion. Now, theres no question that we need to get this countrys debt and deficits under control. I think all of us believe that who are here. But the best way to do that is to reach a comprehensive, longterm bipartisan agreement that looks at all areas of spending. That looks at the domestic side of the budget, at the defense side of the budget, at mandatory programs and at revenues. And despite the partisanship that weve seen too much of he here, i still think that that kind of an agreement is possible and that thats critical senator thune talked about the certainty for farmers who are not sure whats going to happen with the farm bill. But that kind of uncertainty is going across the economy, from businesses, from whatever sector that youre in because people dont know what were going to do here in washington about dealing with this countrys longterm budget. As some of my colleagues have noted, the response to the financial crisis and the Great Recession led to a higher deficit. Theres no question. The country was in trouble. One of the ways we helped to address that was to spend on vital safety net programs which increased while revenues declined to try and stimulate demote put people back to work. Those policies as well as the fiscal policies that have been enacted over the past decade, including two wars, tax breaks for the wealthiest americans, all of those things meant that the countrys deficit and debt had increased. But actually in the past few years, weve seen significant progress to reduce spending and to narrow our deficits. We put in place Discretionary Spending caps that have reduced spending by the federal government and we let the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans expire, which raised additional revenue. All told, weve put in place approximately 2. 4 trillion in deficit reduction. Now, this hasnt been easy. There have been a lot of things that have been affected that i would not have chosen, but the fact is we are on a more sustainable budget path. And one of the best ways we can improve our budget outlook is by growing the economy, by focusing on jobs that boost revenue and decrease the need for social programs. And while we certainly have more work to do on that front, consistent job growth has helped increase revenues and reduce our deficits. So that since this president took office, we have seen this countrys deficit fall by over 50 . That represents a remarkable improvement. And all that coming with the financial crisis and the recession that began in 2008. So just think about that. Weve reduced this countrys deficit by over 50 . The Congressional Budget Office projects that our deficits will drop to 2. 1 of g. D. P. By 2023 from its current level of 4. 2 . So weve made great progress and were on a path to make even better progress. I think the budget that the Senate Passed is a very good place to look at how we achieve Additional Savings and how we co