[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 11 (Monday, March 22, 1999)]
[Page 440]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing Legislation Providing Guaranteed Loans for Farmers 
and Ranchers

March 15, 1999

    I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 882, a bill that will accelerate 
the availability of federally guaranteed loans to our Nation's farmers 
and ranchers to give them continued access to credit that is necessary 
to operate their farms and ranches.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that it will 
soon exhaust the funds available to guarantee loans for farm ownership 
and operations. This bill will make available more than $450 million in 
guarantees to qualified farmers and ranchers. Normally, these funds are 
reserved for beginning farmers and ranchers until April 1, when they are 
made available to all qualified farmers and ranchers. This bill will not 
affect a separate reserve for minority farmers.
    These additional amounts, however, will not fully address the 
unprecedented increase in demand for USDA financing caused by low 
commodity prices, which are expected to continue. For this reason, I 
recently submitted to the Congress an emergency supplemental request for 
an additional $1.1 billion in USDA loan authority. I call on the 
Congress to work expeditiously to include these amounts in a 
supplemental bill I can sign that does not include unwise and 
unnecessary offsets.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
March 15, 1999.

Note: H.R. 882, approved March 15, was assigned Public Law No. 106-2.