Again, President Bush has blocked emergency disaster aid for farmers.

Arguments have been made that disaster aid shouldn't be in the same bill as funding for the troops. First, the supplemental appropriations bill is exactly where emergency farm disaster aid belongs.

Including emergency farm aid in the supplemental appropriations bill is not only appropriate, it is how Congress historically funds the nation's response to unanticipated emergencies, such as weather disasters. Help for Katrina victims, for example, was provided through an emergency supplemental appropriations bill.

This supplemental appropriations bill also includes funding for the troops - more than the president requested, in fact - even though the need to provide these funds was hardly unanticipated. By funding the war through a supplemental appropriations bill, the president is able to pretend the deficits his regular budgets are creating are smaller.

If anything should have been left out of a supplemental appropriations bill, standing on its own merits, it is funding for the troops. It should have been part of the president's regular budget request.

This is not the first time President Bush has moved to block emergency disaster aid for farmers.

The heartland of America supported him in his bid for presidency; too bad we can't count on him to support family farmers in a time of disaster.