The Nation : Bush Signs $897-Million Farm Aid Bill

President Bush signed legislation that will speed $897 million in assistance to farmers whose crops he said had been battered this year by “the forces of nature.” The bulk of the aid--$400 million--will go to wheat farmers whose winter harvest in Kansas and other states was devastated by drought. At the other extreme, the Disaster Assistance Act will compensate farmers in the South and elsewhere whose rice, soybean, cotton and other crops were wiped out by rain, wind and floods. Bush, saying “money’s tight,” noted that the package will “provide relief only to those farmers hardest hit by adverse weather. And it wisely rewards those who took the prudent step of purchasing crop insurance.” The House had passed a $1.4-billion drought relief bill in June, but, under pressure from the White House and the Senate, it acceded to the version signed by Bush.