Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much. If I might just respond to two other issues Governor Branstad raised, first with regard to the…”

“Thank you very much. If I might just respond to two other issues Governor Branstad raised, first with regard to the National Guard. I don't know what this country would do without them. Anybody who has ever served as a Governor knows that you literally couldn't function, the Governor's office could not function in most major problem areas, without them. The second thing, with regard to your request for a waiver of the local match, I have asked James Lee Witt, since he obviously had experience in his former life as the director of emergency services at the State level in our home State, to work with the Governors on that and to try to make a reasoned judgment about what can and can't be done. There is some precedent, as you know, for waiving all or part of the match. There's also a big precedent for the match. And we have to be very careful about how we handle this. Where there is a genuine problem, we want to be responsive. But we want everybody to kind of work with us and work through the facts on it, and we will try to make a humane as well as a clearheaded decision. I'd like to ask Governor Edgar from Illinois now to talk about the current situation in terms of its impact on the farmers. We've heard Mike Espy talk about it, but I think it would be helpful to have a Governor of a great farm State just to start and discuss a little about how the impact is in Illinois. [Governor Edgar requested that the National Guard postpone other duties in order to help damaged areas rebuild. He then discussed the damage and assistance needs in Illinois. Secretary Espy then stated that financial assistance would be provided as quickly and in as flexible a manner as possible and promised to work on crop insurance reform.]”