The Nation - News from June 27, 1988

Speculators aiming to capitalize on the continuing Farm Belt drought by buying unusual amounts of government-held grain will be inviting a “public relations battle” with the Senate Agriculture Committee, that group’s chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), said. Leahy also predicted during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that there will be bipartisan action to enact a drought relief program financed with savings on price supports due to crop failures. On CNN’s “Newsmaker Sunday,” Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng recalled that Congress and the Administration had gotten together in 1966 to help drought-stricken farmers not covered by the federal crop insurance program. “I think we’re heading in the same direction in this one,” Lyng said. Meanwhile, cool air broke a heat wave in the Midwest.