WASHINGTON - As the drought worsened in the Midwest and Great Plains, Congress did not provide broad relief for farmers and ranchers before leaving for a month of campaigning Thursday.

The House did pass a scaled-down $383-million package primarily to help ranchers whose livestock losses and feed costs are mounting as arid conditions make land unusable for grazing. The vote was 223-197, with 35 mostly farm-state Democrats joining Republicans to pass it. Most Democrats held out for a broader farm bill.

“This House should not go home while literally hanging our ranchers out to dry without a safety net to get through this drought,” said Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., who is from a ranching family.

But the Senate declined to consider the House bill before recessing.

Democrats, who control the chamber, prefer a broader bipartisan bill that would provide more robust drought relief to other agricultural sectors. That measure overwhelmingly passed the Senate last month. Democrats also object to the GOP’s plan to offset the costs by cutting conservation funds.

“It’s deeply troubling that the House would leave farmers and small businesses in the lurch,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “House leadership is doing what Congress always does — kicking the can down the road instead of coming together to solve problems.”

The National Drought Mitigation Center said Thursday that arid conditions continued to intensify in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

More than half the nation’s counties have federal disaster designations, largely because of drought.