Statement on Signing the Housing and Community Development Technical Amendments Act of 1984

I am today signing S. 2819, the Housing and Community Development Technical Amendments Act of 1984. This legislation amends the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983 to correct certain defects in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's community development block grant and assisted housing programs. It also contains provisions affecting the Department of Agriculture's rural housing programs and miscellaneous amendments to certain banking laws.

In signing this legislation, however, I must express my strong concerns regarding its provisions prohibiting the transfer of rural housing loan authority to other programs administered by the Farmers Home Administration. There have been several instances in recent years in which such a transfer has been used to provide vital and urgent funding to other, equally important sectors of the farm economy. I do not want this legislation to serve as a precedent for obstructing the interchange authority between Farmers Home Administration programs.