Now is not the time to stall but to help the victims in the Midwest.

We should all send a message to Congress and let them know that they should get their priorities straight and stop holding up the $3 billion financial aid package proposed by President Clinton for the Midwest flood victims.

Since the flooding began, exorbitant amounts of damage have occurred to the land and the people living in the Midwest and as of now no relief is in sight with storm clouds still looming overhead.

Then last Thursday, the House voted 216_205 to delay the aid package. This vote by the House might cause people to wonder what reason under the sky would cause this delay when the need for aid is so apparent.

What the members of the House are worried about is that by giving aid now, with no sure way of paying for it later, we are wrongfully borrowing upon our children and our grandchildren. If this is the problem it seems that this problem should have been looked into and solved during our last natural disaster fiasco, Hurricane Andrew. Did we learn nothing from the suffering of last year?

The Midwest is the bread basket of this country as well as of many parts of the world, and if we don’t help them as soon as possible, we are only hurting ourselves in the end.

By dragging their feet, members of the House are prolonging the suffering of these victims wrongfully. Quicker aid will result in quicker recovery. Quicker recovery will result in re-election in a couple of years.

The House should put all political juggling aside and do the right thing. Until the House gets its act together, those suffering in the Midwest will not be able to get their lives back in order.

Give the people some relief before this natural disaster drowns us all.