After years of unsuccessful attempts to pass farm disaster aid, Rep. Earl Pomeroy and his fellow farm aid supporters in the U.S. House think they've found a strategy to get the bill approved.

Last month, the House attached $3.8 billion in farm aid money to a $124 billion supplemental funding bill that both provides money for the war in Iraq and calls for a withdrawal of troops by Aug. 31, 2008.

"This is not something that Congress can blow off and not pay attention to," Pomeroy, D-N.D., said in an interview Wednesday.

The U.S. Senate passed a similar version, and legislators are expected to finish up work on it when they reconvene next week after spring recess. Already, it has attracted some prominent critics, including President Bush, who is threatening a veto.

Republicans have urged the Democrat-controlled Congress to provide funding for the Iraq war without a pullout date or other add-ons.

"We don't need 535 generals out there," said Republican National Committee spokesman Chris Taylor, referencing the number of representatives in the House. "We already have one commander-in-chief."

Taylor also criticized the addition of farm disaster aid to the bill, saying that such a serious bill wasn't "the time or the place for it."

Pomeroy disagrees. He said the bill is perfect place to put supplemental farm disaster aid because it's the main vehicle for spending money outside of the regular budget cycle.

"From a legislative procedure standpoint, this is how you do it," he said.

Under the proposed disaster aid legislation, farmers who suffered losses in 2005, 2006 or 2007 could apply for assistance. Lost crops must have been insured during these years to qualify.

Under mirror legislation in the U.S. Senate, the presence of insurance is factored into the aid payments, the Iraq withdrawal date is set for March of 2008 and the aid is set at $4.16 billion. The bills will be melded together by negotiation between the chambers.

If approved, they would provide about $200 million in aid payments to North Dakota farmers. The money would go to farmers with greater than 35 percent crop loss, and be worth half the amount that the crops were insured for. It comes on the heels of a drought in western North Dakota during 2006 and flood damage in eastern North Dakota during 2005.

But first, the legislation must clear the desk of a president who has been against farm disaster aid in the past, saying it's too expensive.

That has been a barrier in the past for North Dakota's delegation of three Democrats. In 2006, farm disaster aid passed the Senate but was declared "dead on arrival," in the House by former Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Pomeroy said a group of mostly Democrats and some Republicans tried to use a legislative procedure to force a floor vote on the bill but failed to get enough votes.

In addition to Pomeroy, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., have been big supporters of farm disaster aid. Both have introduced various bills and amendments over the years to fund the aid or add it to larger spending bills. Dorgan was responsible for the amendment that added the disaster aid this year on the Senate side.

This year, the disaster aid is part of $20 billion in the supplemental that has little or nothing to do with the Iraq war. Additional items include $2.9 billion for Hurricane Katrina relief, $75 million to address storage problems for peanut farmers and $500 million to fight wild fires.

Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the additions were necessary to ensure that the Iraq supplemental had enough support to pass.

Pomeroy, who already supported a gradual withdrawal of troops from Iraq, said he's optimistic the farm aid is important enough that it would be one of the last things to go if some of these additions are trimmed.

He predicted that the next several weeks would be an interesting time "with a lot of posturing."

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@;bismarcktribune.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.)