    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 19 (Monday, May 16, 1994)]
    [Pages 1056-1057]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on Signing the Farmers Home Administration Improvement Act of
    1994

    May 11, 1994

        I am today signing into law S. 1930, the Farmers Home Administration
    Improvement Act of 1994. This Act is intended to give the Farmers Home
    Administration in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) an additional
    tool with which to reduce the substantial backlog of delinquent farm
    loan debt. It authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to use USDA's
    Office of General Counsel or private attorneys acting under contract, in
    addition to the current authority to refer matters to the Department of
    Justice, to resolve loan delinquencies.
        My Administration is committed to more aggressive Government action
    to resolve the problem of delinquent farm loan debt. There are too many
    borrowers, many of them of substantial means and not full-time farmers,

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    who have been delinquent on their farm loans for years. Resolving these
    cases will return resources to taxpayers and provide additional
    opportunities for beginning farmers.
        Because the Attorney General has overall responsibility for the
    conduct of litigation by the United States, I have directed the
    Departments of Justice and Agriculture to work together to implement
    this authority.
                                                William J. Clinton
    The White House
    May 11, 1994.

    Note: This statement was released by the Office of the Press Secretary
    on May 12. S. 1930, approved May 11, was assigned Public Law No. 103-
    248.