Clinton, GOP Unveil Plans to Aid Farmers

Responding to a “dangerous moment” for American farmers, President Clinton on Saturday said the government is buying 2.5 million tons of wheat to push up prices. The wheat will be donated to starving populations in Sudan and elsewhere.

“America’s farm families face a crisis, and we have an obligation to help,” Clinton said in his weekly radio address, which he taped in Little Rock, Ark.

“Our farmers face a difficult and dangerous moment,” Clinton said, noting that falling prices have taken a toll on farming communities across the country, including in his home state.

“Many farm families have been pushed off their land, and many more could suffer the same fate unless our nation revives its commitment to helping farmers weather hard times,” he said.

As a first step, Clinton said the government within days will buy 80 million bushels of wheat, about 2.5 million tons, which he said could lift prices as much as 13 cents a bushel. A bushel of wheat sells for about $2.75, down sharply this year as domestic supplies soared and Asia’s economic crisis depressed wheat export markets.

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Clinton said the United States would donate the 2.5 million tons to hard-pressed countries such as Indonesia, which has been hit by economic and civil turmoil, and Sudan, where as many as 2.6 million people face starvation brought by war and drought.

He also urged Congress to take additional action to help farmers. Among his suggestions: Expand eligibility for direct and guaranteed loans and help replenish the International Monetary Fund to stabilize Asian economies.

Responding to Clinton’s announcement, Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) said he was pleased the president took action so quickly after meeting at the White House last week with members of Congress from farm states.

“Ground zero in the crisis is the Northern Plains because here we’ve had terrible crop yield due to too much water, flooded acreage and crop disease,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s not just the first year--more than two-thirds of the North Dakota counties have been declared disasters in three of the last five years.”

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The top Democrat in the Senate, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, said farmers deserve even more help.

For their part, House Republicans plan to pass legislation before the August recess that could put $5.5 billion in the pockets of financially strapped farmers before the November elections.

“We have a very genuine disaster that is building up,” Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), said Friday. “When you’re faced with some of the conditions we see around the country, you have to be responsive.”

The Agriculture Department estimates that cash farm income for 1998 will be down $5.9 billion from 1997’s record high, even as farm production costs rise an estimated $4.3 billion. The problem is a combination of increased farm production and falling farm exports.

The GOP proposal would permit farmers to receive ahead of schedule some or all of the “transition payments” they are due in fiscal year 1999, which begins Oct. 1. The payments, being used to wean farmers gradually off Depression-era subsidies by 2002, are normally paid in December or January and again in September each year.

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said the U.S. intends to include Ethiopia, Eritrea and North Korea in its wheat donations. He said others might be added later.