[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 44 (Monday, November 2, 1998)]
[Pages 2114-2115]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Emergency Assistance to Farmers and Ranchers

October 23, 1998

    As provided for in the Omnibus bill I signed 2 days ago, I am 
pleased today to designate an additional $4.2 billion in emergency 
assistance to our nation's farmers and ranchers, to help them recover 
from the worst agricultural crisis in a decade. Coupled with the more 
then $1.6 billion in agricultural emergency funds released when I signed 
H.R. 4328, the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental 
Appropriations Act, 1999, earlier this week, this brings the total to 
$5.9 billion. This amount is more than $1.6 billion greater than the 
amount included in the Agriculture Appropriations bill I vetoed on 
October 8 because it did not adequately address the farm crisis. I 
particularly want to thank Senator Daschle and my negotiating team for 
seeing to it that the final bill included the extra funds that will help 
a great many farmers stay in business.
    There should be no confusion over the fact that these funds provide 
only a 1-year, temporary fix for the overall problems with the farm 
safety net. That is why I am equally pleased about other provisions in 
the bill that address the long-term need for farmers to get a fair 
income from the market and to help them better manage their variation in 
annual income. A major reason for the drop in prices for some major 
crops this year has

[[Page 2115]]

been lower commodity exports, which account for a third of our farm 
output.
    We fought long and hard to secure the nearly $18 billion in IMF 
funding included in the bill, which will especially help our customers 
in Asia and elsewhere so that they can continue to buy our farm 
products. The bill also makes permanent the ability of farmers to 
average their income across good years and bad to stabilize the farm 
family budget.
    However, I also recognize that there are some fundamental 
shortcomings in the structure of the Federal farm income safety net. 
Therefore, I will review proposals for long-term improvements in the 
risk management and crop insurance programs to reduce the risk that next 
year farmers and ranchers will again suffer under such severe 
conditions.
    I also want to thank Secretary of Agriculture Glickman for his 
tireless work on behalf of American agriculture. I know he and his staff 
are hard at work right now setting the process in place to deliver the 
assistance I am designating today. While it cannot happen overnight--in 
particular, we will not know the full extent of the 1998 crop losses and 
due compensation for some weeks to come--I know he will shortly begin 
delivering these funds to farmers and ranchers as quickly and as fairly 
as possible.
                                            William J. Clinton

Note: H.R. 4328, approved October 21, was assigned Public Law No. 105-
277. An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this statement. This item was not received in time for publication in 
the appropriate issue.