WASHINGTON (AP) - Wyoming Rep. Barbara Cubin said Wednesday that it is a "double standard of the highest order" that hurricane victims are given billions in federal government assistance and farmers affected by drought are left in the dust.

Cubin is one of just a few House Republicans supporting disaster relief for farmers and ranchers affected by an ongoing drought in the West and other states. The Senate passed spending legislation that would have provided $4 billion in assistance earlier this year, but House Republicans removed the provision in negotiations between the two chambers.

The White House and House GOP leadership have opposed several versions of drought relief legislation, the latest of which totals $6.5 billion for 2005 and 2006 losses. The opponents say the bills are too expensive and the money would not be distributed fairly.

Cubin says that opposition is hypocritical because Congress has given so much help to victims of hurricanes in the Gulf Coast. While she doesn't oppose that aid, she says it is unfair to farmers and ranchers who have suffered from different types of weather-related losses.

"They are saying our agricultural communities are not as important," she said.

Cubin and other House members who support drought relief have so far failed to persuade Republican leadership to go along with the deal. While the issue has received attention from members of both parties in the Senate, the House has focused on other subjects.

Some members, including North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy, a Democrat, have suggested that Democrats could take over the House if Republicans don't pay more attention to rural issues.

"Things could be very different after the election, and I believe there are rural seats hanging on this disaster bill," Pomeroy said last week.

Cubin, who is in a competitive re-election race against Democrat Gary Trauner, said she didn't think the drought issue would affect her election. But she said she may use some political capital on the subject.

"I require cooperation from leaders in order for them to get cooperation from me," she said.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has pledged some federal assistance - $79 million in relief funds, including $50 million for livestock producers, to alleviate some of the effects of the ongoing drought. He also promised to accelerate $700 million in planned payments to cotton, grain sorghum and peanut farmers.

But many farm-state lawmakers, including Cubin, say it's not enough. In addition, she said, that assistance excludes several needy counties in Wyoming.

"It's too small and spread too thin," she said.

In the Senate, several rural lawmakers are attempting to add the $6.5 billion bill to port security legislation. The prospects of that effort are unclear.

Johanns has said he wanted to wait for the harvest of this year's crops before deciding whether to give out more money. That could push the decision to October or later, after Congress goes home at the end of September.