[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 12 (Monday, March 25, 1996)]
[Pages 544-545]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Farm Bill

March 22, 1996

    I have reviewed the work of the conferees on the farm bill. While I 
strongly favor some aspects of the final bill, I have very serious 
reservations about it.
    However, farmers need to know the conditions under which they are 
operating as they head out into their fields in the coming weeks, and 
the hour is growing late. For that

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reason, I will, with some reluctance, sign this bill when Congress 
presents it to me. Let me be clear: I am firmly committed to working 
with Congress next year to strengthen the farm safety net, and I plan to 
propose legislation to do so.
    I am especially disappointed that the bill does not provide as 
strong a safety net for family farmers as it should. It provides fixed 
payments without regard to whether farmers are receiving adequate income 
from the market, yet leaves farmers without protection in the event of 
natural disasters or other circumstances that sharply reduce their 
income.
    I am pleased that the bill provides significant funds for 
conservation and environmental enhancement programs and that it will 
channel additional needed funds to rural development and agricultural 
research programs through the Fund for Rural America. The bill also 
reauthorizes nutrition programs for another 2 years and gives farmers 
the planting flexibility they need to plant for the market, not for 
Government programs.
    I look forward to working with Congress next year in a process that 
involves all interested groups to make this a truly farmer-friendly farm 
bill.