Attachment 1 provides a copy of the meeting agenda, and Attachment 2 provides a list of the meeting attendees. Opening Remarks - Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman Dan Glickman, Chair of Commission , welcomed the other Commissioners to Washington, D.C., thanked them for their participation, and indicated the importance of this Commission in relation to national policy . Recent floods caused by Hurricane Floyd are highly visible events with visible damages whereas drought and its effects can be more difficult to see. Because of the rains, many people think there wasn't drought damage, but of course the rains came too late for crops in most cases. Congress is currently working on emergency assistance, the bulk of which will compensate farmers for low prices.
Low prices is also a problem.
Drought is a kind of silent disaster that is slow and insidious but can be worse in many circumstances than a catastrophic disaster. These people may also loose a residence or structure in a catastrophic disaster so the Commission needs to consider how Federal disaster relief as a whole compensates people. What is done for drought may have an impact on disaster policy in general. In dealing with a natural disaster the right hand does not always know what the left is doing. Disasters make you sit down and talk about public policy.