Statement on Signing Bill Extending the Insured Loan Authority of the Farmers Home Administration.
I HAVE today signed into law H.R. 10538, a bill extending the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to insure loans through the Farmers Home Administration that will benefit rural people throughout the United States.
The largest appropriation in these programs is for the insuring of loans to enable farmers to buy and expand farms. This fiscal year that appropriation is $350 million, an increase over last year of almost $82 million.
The second largest appropriation in these programs is for the insuring of loans for water supply facilities and waste disposal systems. This fiscal year that appropriation amounts to $300 million, an increase of 15 percent over last year.
I am delighted that the permanent extension of this insured loan authority also makes it possible for the Secretary of Agriculture to double loans for Indian tribes.
Earlier in the year, this Administration urged extending the insured loan authority of the Farmers Home Administration for these purposes. I am pleased that the Congress approved this bill with reasonable speed, so that the continuity of operation of these insured loan programs has not been interrupted. This credit assistance is of significant importance to the agricultural and rural sectors of our economy.
Since this Administration took office, the water and waste disposal loan program has almost doubled in size and the farm ownership program has increased by almost one-third. Farm and rural people all over America will benefit from the enactment of this legislation.
Note: As enacted, H.R. 10538 is Public Law 92-133 (85 Stat. 364).
Richard Nixon, Statement on Signing Bill Extending the Insured Loan Authority of the Farmers Home Administration. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240995