Secretary's Holiday Message to Employees


                                              Release No. 0643.96


             Secretary's Holiday Message to Employees
                        December 19, 1996


     We are at the end of a year, and near the end of the first Clinton term,
and both have brought big changes for agriculture and USDA employees: Record
after record is being set in agricultural trade. We've started a complete
modernization of the nation's meat and poultry inspection system. We've
changed how farmers plant and market crops and manage risk. There is more
economic opportunity in rural America. And, we have reorganized, reconfigured,
and refocused USDA itself, providing better service while saving money.

     It is tempting for a politician to say good things come about because of
good policies. But policies are only words on paper until someone turns them
into improvements in people's lives. Change happens when an individual, or a
group, or an office makes it happen. 

     Last year, USDA employees made change happen. In just seven weeks, you
enrolled 99 percent of all eligible producers in the most radically-different
farm bill in 60 years. You helped more than 145,000 rural Americans get safe,
affordable drinking water. You worked with industry to replace a 100-year-old
meat inspection system with one based on science. You are leading a national
effort to recover food for the needy that otherwise would be thrown away. And
you have done this while your numbers are shrinking and many of you face
reorganization and relocation as USDA continues to set the reinvention pace
for the entire federal government.

     For all this, you have my sincere thanks and my plea to keep up the good
work. Our agenda for next year is no less imposing. We want to ensure that no
child in this country goes to bed hungry. We want American's to have the
safest food supply in the world, and USDA to be agriculture's number one
salesman to the world. We want rural Americans to have the same economic
opportunities as urban Americans, landowners to know and use our new
conservation programs, and we want to lead the world in agricultural research. 

     As we enter the new year, we want to focus all of USDA on how we better
manage civil rights issues. We want to create an environment in which every
customer who comes to a USDA office is treated fairly, effectively, and
efficiently. And, we want a workplace in which all of our employees are
treated with dignity and respect.

     As you take time to be with your families during this holiday season,
you can reflect with pride on our many accomplishments. I am deeply grateful
to each of you for all you have done to change peoples' lives for the better.
I wish you all happy holidays and a bright future.

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