Statement on Signing the Agricultural, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1995

Today I have signed into law H.R. 4554, the "Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1995."

The Act provides $13.4 billion in discretionary budget authority for programs of the Department of Agriculture, including the special supplemental feeding program for women, infants, and children (WIC); food safety programs; and various programs to protect and support rural communities.

The Act also provides a total of $39.2 billion for the Food Stamp program, the Commodity Credit Corporation, and other mandatory programs.

The Act includes authority for providing disaster assistance for losses to 1994 crops due to natural disasters. The Administration is currently reviewing estimates of the need for this assistance. I will be transmitting to the Congress requests for the release of these emergency funds in the near future.

The Act also includes the following appropriations that I hereby designate as emergency requirements pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(D)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended:

Emergency community water assistance grants, $10,000,000;

Very low-income housing repair grants, $15,000,000;

Agricultural credit insurance fund program account: For the cost of emergency loans, $7,670,000; and

Emergency conservation program: Transfer from Watershed and flood prevention operations, $23,000,000

These funds will be used to provide needed assistance to victims of natural disasters, including flooding victims of Tropical Storm Alberto in south Alabama, south Georgia, and north Florida.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

The White House, September 30, 1994.