Bill Clinton: “As provided for in the Omnibus bill I signed 2 days ago, I am pleased today to designate an additional $4.2 billion in…”

“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 been lower commodity exports, which account for a third of our farm output.…”