[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 42 (Monday, October 25, 1999)]
[Pages 2118-2119]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Radio Remarks on Signing Agriculture Appropriations Legislation

October 22, 1999

    Today I am signing into law the agriculture appropriations bill. 
This legislation provides critical funding for the Department of 
Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration programs, including basic 
farm support programs, WIC, food safety efforts, and other measures to 
protect and support our rural communities.
    It also provides emergency funds to assist our Nation's farmers and 
ranchers who are suffering the second year in a row of plummeting crop 
prices and, for many, record livestock losses from severe drought and 
flooding.
    Let me say that I am disappointed that Congress didn't come through 
with more assistance for farmers and ranchers who suffered this year. 
This summer's drought and Hurricane Floyd and other natural disasters 
have inflicted literally billions of dollars in agricultural damage, and 
we need to do more

[[Page 2119]]

to help those farmers who have incurred these losses through no fault of 
their own.
    Congress also has not responded effectively to the crisis facing 
many farms because of the sustained low prices of most commodities. This 
is the second year in a row that substantial Federal assistance has been 
needed above and beyond our regular farm programs.
    Now, while these additional funds have been absolutely critical, the 
very fact that we've needed them points out the underlying flaws in the 
1996 farm bill. For all its positive features, that bill simply did not 
do enough to help our farmers and ranchers cope in crisis. It doesn't 
give the USDA the tools it needs to help farmers and ranchers thrive in 
the short and long term. It doesn't direct payments to where they're 
most needed. And it's providing payments to those who aren't even 
farming anymore.
    The bottom line is this: We need to revise, revamp, and improve the 
1996 farm bill. It is not providing adequate support that our farmers 
need to prosper. So once again, I urge Congress to work to fix the farm 
bill permanently so American farmers can have an adequate safety net, 
just as the Vice President and I have worked hard to reinvent Government 
and give Government more impact and more effectiveness, even though we 
have the smallest Federal Government since 1962. We must take those 
kinds of steps, the necessary steps to rewrite this flawed farm 
legislation. The men and women who work every day to give us the world's 
most affordable and abundant food supply deserve nothing less.
    So this is not a perfect piece of legislation, but I am signing it 
because our farmers are facing a true emergency and they can't wait. 
Their livelihoods--in some cases, their very survival--depend upon 
getting this bill signed and assistance delivered now.
    Franklin Roosevelt once said that our farmers are the source from 
which the reservoirs of our Nation's strength are constantly renewed. We 
must strengthen and support our farms and farm families, just as they 
have sustained us throughout our history and will into the future.
    Thank you.

Note: The President's remarks were recorded at approximately 11:30 a.m. 
on October 22 in the Oval Office at the White House for later broadcast. 
These remarks were also made available on the White House Press Office 
Actuality Line. A tape was not available for verification of the content 
of these remarks.