This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.

THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                      (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   October 29, 1999

                  RADIO ACTUALITY BY THE PRESIDENT ON
                   EMERGENCY AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE

Today, as provided for in the Agriculture Appropriations Bill I signed last week, I am designating $8.8 billion in emergency assistance to our nation's farmers and ranchers. This assistance will hasten payments to farmers who are recovering from the second year in a row of low commodity prices, and crop and livestock losses from severe drought and flooding.

This is only a one-year temporary fix for the overall problems facing our farmers. They are the lifeblood of our land. Again I call on the Congress to enact a permanent fix to the severe shortcomings in the 1996 Farm Bill.

NOTE: Sound from this statement is available on the White House Press Office Radio Actuality Line at 202-456-5671.

###