Statement on Signing the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 6, 2000 by Bill Clinton

October 28, 2000

Today I am signing into law H.R. 4461, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2001. I commend the Congress for presenting me an acceptable version of this bill that provides critical funding for our Nation's farmers and ranchers, improves the safety of our food supply, and provides assistance to lowincome families and rural communities.

I am pleased that the Act fully funds my Food Safety Initiative at $383 million, a $57 million, or 17 percent, increase over FY 2000. These funds will improve food safety for all Americans by allowing the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase surveillance activities and inspections of domestic and imported food, accelerate responses to outbreaks, and perform vital research on ways to reduce pathogens in food so that we can advance a more science-based food inspection system. I also commend the Congress for dropping the objectionable language provision that would have prevented USDA from fully implementing the Egg Safety Action Plan that I announced in December 1999. This will now allow USDA and FDA to vigorously pursue the goal of cutting in half the number of salmonella illnesses from eggs.

While the Congress did not provide the full amount of my requested increase for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, thereby failing to ensure that this vital program can achieve the goal of 7.5 million participants, the program will be able to serve a monthly average of just over 7.3 million individuals. I am pleased that the Act adopts my proposal to expand the vehicle allowance for the Food Stamp program, which will assist the many working poor families for whom owning a vehicle is the one item that makes them ineligible for food stamps. In addition, the Act will provide a much-needed increase in nutrition assistance for low-income families with high housing costs, by increasing the Food Stamp program housing allowance. The two changes mean that families do not have to choose among buying food, paying their housing costs, or having a more reliable car. However, I am disappointed the bill did not restore food stamp eligibility for certain legal immigrants, as proposed in my Budget.

Loans and grants for priority rural development programs will increase under the Act to $9.9 billion this year, a $2.7 billion increase over FY 2000. These funds will help diversify the rural economy, improve the quality of life in rural communities, and bring more rural areas across the "economic divide" that separates too many parts of the country from the historic economic expansion underway. I am especially pleased that the Act includes several of my proposals to address geographic areas of rural America that have long struggled with persistent poverty, including $34 million targeted to Indian reservations for health clinics, child care centers, water systems, and job opportunities; and $10 million for the Mississippi Delta Region to create better job opportunities and strengthen local financial intermediaries. The Act will also provide over $100 million in loans and grants to help close the "digital divide" by financing local Internet service and broadband transmission in rural areas.

The Act increases USDA's conservation technical assistance to farmers and ranchers by over $50 million from the FY 2000 level. Part of these funds will be used for a one-third increase in technical assistance to producers who are improving their animal waste management systems, as part of my Clean Water Action Plan. I am disappointed, however, that the Act cuts financial assistance for these and other conservation projects through the Environmental Quality Incentives program, and provides none of the funds I requested for the Farmland Protection Program that preserves farmland and helps communities manage urban sprawl. Also, while it is certainly helpful that the Act increases the Wetlands Reserve Program by 100,000 acres, it is far short of reaching the 250,000 acres per year I proposed for this program. I am hopeful that the next Congress and the next Farm Bill will recognize that farmers were the first environmentalists and that Federal farm programs should be structured and funded to improve the environm ent while boosting farm income.

I am also pleased that the Act provides vital payments to farmers and ranchers who have suffered losses from natural disasters. However, the more than $4 billion in emergency funds in this Act, combined with more than $7 billion in farm assistance for the current crop year that was enacted this summer, represents the third year in a row the Congress has had to supplement farm income through major emergency appropriations, due to the failure of the 1996 Farm Bill. I am hopeful that the reforms enacted this year to the crop insurance program will mitigate the need for future ad hoc crop loss legislation. I continue to believe that USDA's farm income assistance program must be overhauled to target funds to family farmers based on their actual income losses on crops they are growing now, not paid out inordinately to corporate farms based on what they grew years ago. My Administration is reviewing the emergency funding provisions in this Act, and these funds will be released as needs dictate.