[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 25 (Monday, June 26, 2000)]
[Pages 1415-1416]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Agricultural Risk Protection
Act of 2000

June 20, 2000

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 2559, the ``Agricultural Risk 
Protection Act of 2000,'' which authorizes permanent reforms to the crop 
insurance program, provides temporary farm income assistance in FY 2000, 
and provides funding and authorities for other agricultural and 
nutrition programs for FY 2001.
    I support the reform of the crop insurance program that is included 
in this bill, because it is generally consistent with principles my 
Administration has advocated over the last 2 years. I have heard many 
farmers say that the crop insurance program was simply not a good value 
for them, providing too little coverage for too much money. My FY 2001 
budget proposal and this bill directly address that problem by making 
higher insurance coverage more affordable, which should also mitigate 
the need for ad hoc crop loss disaster assistance such as we have seen 
for the last 3 years. The reforms in this bill will put risk management 
where it belongs: in the hands of producers. The bill will also expand 
coverage to more crops and provide incentives for new insurance product 
development, which will extend risk management to more producers and 
foster innovation in the risk management marketplace.
    The bill includes a number of other provisions that I also support. 
The bill expands research authorities and funding for biomass and 
bioproducts, including next-generation ethanol, which will benefit 
producers by increasing the demand for agricultural products, and will 
diversify rural economies while cleaning our air and fighting global 
warming. The bill also provides income assistance to producers of a 
number of different crops, such as fruit and vegetable growers, and 
producers whose crop and pasture land has been flooded. In addition, the 
bill includes important reforms I requested to the Child and Adult Care 
Food Program and allows the use of school lunch application data to 
identify more children eligible for Medicaid and the State Children's 
Health Insurance Program.
    However, I am signing H.R. 2559 with reservations because its income 
assistance component is not targeted, is counter-cyclical, and does not 
require recipients to enroll in crop insurance. If there was any doubt 
that the 1996 Farm Bill failed to provide an adequate farm safety net, 
it should be dispelled by this bill that provides significant 
supplemental farm income assistance for the third year in a row.
    As I said when I signed the 1996 bill, the fixed Agricultural 
Marketing Transition Act (AMTA) payments simply do not adjust to changes 
in crop prices or revenues, and the

[[Page 1416]]

prolonged financial stress in the farm sector has required the Congress 
to repeatedly step in on an ad hoc basis to supplement farm bill 
assistance. To respond to the needs of producers suffering from 
continuing low crop prices and inadequate farm bill assistance, and to 
provide a sensible approach for the reauthorization of the farm bill in 
2002, I proposed counter-cyclical farm income assistance in my FY 2001 
Budget, which would provide higher payments on those crops with the most 
depressed prices and revenues. I am disappointed that the Congress did 
not adopt this proposal, and instead chose again simply to double the 
AMTA payments without regard to the hardships facing individual 
producers this year. Payments in this bill will be based on what 
producers grew prior to 1996, not what they are growing now, and some 
payment recipients may not even be growing covered crops anymore, having 
switched to other commodities or livestock production. We need to move 
beyond this kind of untargeted, patchwork fix to secure a stronger, more 
reliable farm safety net that provides dependable assistance to family 
farmers based on their current farm income.
    Another crucial component of my farm safety net proposal is to 
significantly increase funds for conservation programs, such as the 
Conservation and Wetlands Reserve Programs, and a new Conservation 
Security Program. These programs can boost farm income to a wide range 
of producers, while providing environmental benefits for all Americans. 
I am disappointed that virtually no funds were included for these 
programs, and I will continue to seek substantially increased funding 
for them this year. Additionally, we want to work with the Congress to 
prevent an unintended sequester.
    This bill's farm income assistance will help many producers get 
through what is shaping up to be another tough year, and the crop 
insurance reforms should enhance producers' ability to survive natural 
disasters for years to come. But I would hope that the experience of the 
last 3 years has taught those who shape farm policy on Capitol Hill--as 
farm families across the country have learned first-hand the hard way--
that we need to build a stronger, better farm safety net on which 
American producers, their families, and communities can depend.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 June 20, 2000.

  Note:  H.R. 2559, approved June 20, was assigned Public Law No. 106-
224.