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Special Message to the Congress Requesting General Legislation Authorizing the Use of Agricultural Commodities for Foreign Emergency Relief.

June 30, 1953

To the Congress of the United States:

Because of the great productivity of our farms, the people of the United States have been able, on several occasions in recent years, to come to the aid of friendly countries faced with famine. In 1951 agricultural supplies were provided to India, and only recently wheat has been made available to the people of Pakistan. In both instances, we were able to provide assistance in meeting famine or other urgent relief requirements by using stocks of commodities held by the Commodity Credit Corporation. On each of these occasions the Congress has been forced to add consideration of these emergency programs to its very heavy workload. This procedure not only adds to the Congressional burden but also slows the speed with which this government can come to the assistance of a nation urgently needing relief.

I therefore believe it advisable to have general legislation which, within appropriate limitations, would permit the President to meet these situations. The legislation I am requesting would give the President the authority to utilize agricultural commodities held by this government, but it would limit that authority to meet only the occasional needs arising from famine or other urgent relief requirements.

The objectives of such a program are not to be confused with the principal objective of our Mutual Security Program. The Mutual Security Program aims at promoting the long range security of the United States by assisting our friends to strengthen their long range economic and defensive capabilities. The program I am now proposing aims at mitigating the hard blows of unusual and urgent emergencies.

Since we cannot adequately foresee the specific needs to be met under the legislation I am requesting, we cannot now determine the most effective and equitable conditions under which such assistance may be rendered in a particular situation. Consequently, I am requesting authority to establish, when the need arises, the terms and conditions under which these agricultural commodities shall be made available.

In order that there may be a minimum of delay in assisting nations stricken with famine or having other urgent relief requirements, I am requesting that the Commodity Credit Corporation be given authority to make available from its stocks the necessary agricultural commodities to meet these emergency needs. To prevent impairment of the operations of the Commodity Credit Corporation, and to permit necessary budgetary adjustments, I am recommending an authorization to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation to the extent of its investment in commodities furnished by it, plus any other costs, including interest, which it may incur in carrying out programs authorized under this act. When the costs of any programs carried out under terms of this act can be ascertained, the Congress will be asked to appropriate the necessary funds to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation. I further propose that the authority to undertake programs of famine and other urgent relief assistance under this legislation expire on June 30, 1955.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Note: The act enabling the President to furnish emergency relief assistance, approved August 7, is Public Law 216, 83d Congress (67 Stat. 476).

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Special Message to the Congress Requesting General Legislation Authorizing the Use of Agricultural Commodities for Foreign Emergency Relief. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/231702

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