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: The President's remarks were recorded at approximately 6:20 p.m. on October 28 in the Map Room at the White House for later broadcast. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on October 29. These remarks were also made available on the White House Press Office Radio Actuality Line.
William J. Clinton, Radio Remarks on Emergency Agricultural Assistance Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/229810
