Release No 0201.00
Statement
                               by

            Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman on
    President Clinton's Signing of Emergency Farm Assistance
                 And Crop Insurance Reform Bill
                                             
                         June 20, 2000

                    
     "The bill President Clinton signed today provides $7.1 billion in
emergency assistance to America's struggling farmers.  Commodity prices remain
extremely low and worldwide production continues at record levels.  There is
no doubt that this aid is sorely needed.  The bill also makes crop insurance
more affordable, extending greater protection to more crops and more farmers.  

     "For three years in a row now, U.S. taxpayers have provided billions of
dollars in emergency farm assistance.  This is a clear admission that the 1996
Freedom to Farm bill fails to provide an effective safety net for American
farmers.  The President, Vice President and I have implored Congress to avoid
costly, ad hoc, emergency aid by addressing the fundamental flaws in the farm
bill.  

     "Notwithstanding the need for emergency payments to producers  --
there's no doubt the aid is needed -- the way Congress has decided to pay out
this emergency money is seriously  flawed.  We should not make payments to
farmers who have not planted a crop and who don't need the help.  Instead, as
the President proposes, we should target assistance to family farmers who
really are struggling.  And assistance should be countercyclical, with
payments increasing as incomes decline, and vice versa.  We should treat the
land itself as our most precious commodity, rewarding good conservation
practices.  Ultimately, we must develop a farm policy with an effective safety
net, one on which farmers and the American people can rely."  

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