[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 140 (Thursday, October 8, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10148-H10149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GENERAL LEAVE

  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on 
the consideration of H.R. 4274, and that I may include tabular and 
extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.

   AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND 
   RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999--VETO MESSAGE FROM THE 
          PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 105-321)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following veto 
message from the President of the United States:
To the House of Representatives:
  I am returning herewith without my approval, H.R. 4101, the 
``Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and 
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999.'' I am vetoing this bill 
because it fails to address adequately the crisis now gripping our 
Nation's farm community.
  I firmly believe and have stated often that the Federal Government 
must play an important role in strengthening the farm safety net. This 
appropriations bill provides an opportunity each year for the 
Government to take steps to help hardworking farmers achieve a decent 
living, despite the misfortune of bad weather, crop disease, collapsing 
markets, or other forces that affect their livelihoods. It is 
especially necessary for the Government to act this year, with prices 
dropping precipitously, crops destroyed by flood, drought, and disease, 
and where many farmers will see their net income drop by as much as 40 
percent below a 5-year average.
  Two years ago, when I signed the ``Freedom to Farm Bill,'' I made 
clear that it did not provide an adequate safety net for our Nation's 
farmers. There is no better proof of that bill's shortcomings than the 
hardship in America's farm country this year. Our farm families are 
facing their worst crisis in a decade.
  My Administration has already taken steps to address this crisis. In 
July, we announced the purchase of $250 million of wheat to export to 
hungry people around the world. In August, I signed legislation to 
speed up farm program payments. But in the face of a growing emergency 
for our Nation's farmers, we must do more to ensure that American 
farmers can continue to provide, for years to come, the safest and 
least expensive food in the world. Last month, I sent to the Congress a 
request for $2.3 billion in emergency aid for our farmers, and I 
supported Senator Daschle's and Harkin's proposal to boost farm income 
by lifting the cap on marketing loan rates.

[[Page H10149]]

  I am extremely disappointed that the Congress has reacted to this 
agriculture emergency situation by sending me a bill that fails to 
provide an adequate safety net for our farmers. I have repeatedly 
stated that I would veto any emergency farm assistance bill if it did 
not adequately address our farmers' immediate needs, and this bill does 
not do enough.
  The lack of sufficient emergency aid for farmers in this bill is 
particularly problematic in light of the bill's other provisions that 
affect farmers and their rural communities. Cutting edge agricultural 
research is absolutely essential to improve our farmers' productivity 
and to maintain their advantage over our competitors around the world. 
But this bill eliminates the $120 million in competitive research 
grants for this year that I strongly supported and signed into law just 
last June. It also blocks the $60 million from the Fund for Rural 
America provided through that same bill, preventing needed additional 
rural development funds that would help our Nation's rural communities 
to diversify their economies and improve their quality of life. The 
bill also cuts spending for our food safety initiative in half, denying 
funds for research, public education, and other food safety 
improvements.
  Many of our most vulnerable farmers have also had to face an obstacle 
that no one in America ever should have to confront: racial 
discrimination. Over 1,000 minority farmers have filed claims of 
discrimination by USDA's farm loan programs in the 1980s and early 
1990s that the statute of limitations bars from being addressed. While 
I am pleased that this legislation contains a provision waiving the 
statute of limitations, I am disappointed that it does not contain the 
language included in the Senate's version of this bill, which 
accelerates the resolution of the cases, provides claimants with a fair 
and full court review if they so choose, and covers claims stemming 
from USDA's housing loan programs.
  Therefore, as I return this bill, I again call on the Congress to 
send me a comprehensive plan, before this session ends, that adequately 
responds to the very real needs of our farmers at this difficult time.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, October 7, 1998.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The objections of the President will be 
spread at large upon the Journal, and the veto message and the bill 
will be printed as a House document.
  Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the veto message 
of the President, together with the accompanying bill, be referred to 
the Committee on Appropriations.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Mexico?
  There was no objection.

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