Release No. 0394.02

of

Press Conference

with Agriculture Secretary Ann M.Veneman, Rep. John Thune of South Dakota, Sen. Craig Thomas of Wyoming, Rep. Tom Osborne of Nebraska, Congressman Jerry Moran of Kansas and Deputy Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Hunt Shipman

Thursday, September 19, 2002

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MR. QUINN: From the broadcast center at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, we welcome you to this news conference today to announce additional emergency drought assistance for U.S. farmers and ranchers.

With us today to talk about this announcement is Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman, and she is being joined today by Congressman John Thune of South Dakota; Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming; Congressman Tom Osborne of Nebraska; and Deputy Under Secretary of Agriculture Hunt Shipman.

We'll being with an opening statement from Secretary Veneman.

SECRETARY VENEMAN: Thank you very much, Larry, and thank you all for joining us today. I want to first apologize for the delay, but we do have members of Congress with us today, and the Congress was having some votes this afternoon, so we really appreciate your patience as we make this announcement today.

I really am very pleased to be here today with Congressman John Thune from South Dakota, Senator Craig Thomas from Wyoming, and Congressman Osborne from Nebraska. We also had with us here, before the delay took place, Senator Hagel, also from Nebraska, but he had another appointment and had to leave. And we expect that Congressman Moran from Kansas will be joining us shortly.

We want to thank all of you for your leadership. It has been very critical as we've addressed the issues of farm policy and particularly the drought, which we're discussing today.

And I also want to thank Hunt Shipman for being here today with our Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, as our Deputy Under Secretary.

Before we begin today I just want to say a few words of thanks to our farm broadcasters and all of you out there who have sent so many good wishes in to us here at USDA, and me in particular, as I made the announcement yesterday of my diagnosis with breast cancer. It's meant a tremendous amount and I do want to thank you all for your good wishes and particularly the tremendous support we've heard from all of you out in the farm broadcasting community.

What we're here today to announce is an important step that this administration is taking to assist livestock producers who have been particularly hard hit as a result of the severe drought conditions in many parts of our country. Since early this year USDA has been utilizing every available program and resource under our existing authorities to assist farmers and ranchers during this difficult time. And as we know, the risk management tools are critical, that the livestock sector has very few tools available when drought hits.

Last week Congressman Thune wrote to me with a very creative suggestion, and that was to provide relief to our livestock producers in an innovative way to our Section 32 authority. As a result, we've worked together with the congressman and our team here at USDA to take this recommendation seriously, and that's what's led to the announcement that we're making today.

Beginning on October 1st, Farm Service Agency county offices and USDA Service Centers will begin accepting applications for participation in a $752 million livestock compensation program. This will provide immediate relief to livestock producers, who like I said, do not have risk management tools to recover from the drought. Those livestock producers in counties designated as primary disaster counties due to drought in the years 2001 and/or 2002, and those counties whose disaster designation requests are pending now and are subsequently approved, will be eligible to participate in this program.

This means that assistance will be available in 37 states, 7 in which every county is available, and 30 states where designated counties can participate. Payments will be based on standard feed consumption data for each eligible type of livestock. These payments will be based on the number of each animal held on June 1st of this year, and they must have owned them for at least 90 days before or after this date.

Today's announcement is unique in three respects. First, unlike previous livestock programs funded by the Congress, this program will make payments immediately. There will not be long delays between the sign-up and the receipt of payment. Second, the payments I have discussed will not be prorated. Third, the program announced today is more than 50 percent larger than any livestock program funded by Congress since 1998. We expect payments to eligible producers to begin very shortly after they sign up, beginning October 1st through their FSA office or service center.

As our FSA county offices begin implementing this new program, we will begin providing the appropriate information and training to our staff to ensure questions that eligible livestock producers may have, can be answered in an efficient and timely manner.

We're also providing information on our website at http://www.usda.gov to further explain this program. As you know, we are continuing to use the Web and our Web page to get more and more information out to our producers.

The funding for today's program announcement will come from Section 32, a permanent appropriation that since 1935 has earmarked the equivalent of 30 percent of annual customs receipts to support the U.S. agricultural sector. This program announced today is in addition to other programs that USDA has made available to eligible producers that to date total appropriately $1.3 billion.

As you know, in August we authorized a $150 million feed assistance program to help cow/calf operators in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. Earlier this month we authorized emergency haying and grazing on conservation reserved program acres nationally to provide relief for farmers and ranchers. This is estimated to be valued at $100 million. We have released $54 million for 36 states through the Emergency Conservation Reserve Program, which helps producers rehabilitate farmlands damaged by natural disasters and, as well, the Federal Crop Insurance Program has been providing indemnities for production and revenue losses.

The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, which provides financial assistance to eligible producers affected by natural disasters is expected to provide $250 million in relief. This has been an important program, particularly this year, as we have seen participation rates climb during the past few years.

As well, USDA has worked hard to expedite the declaration of agricultural disaster areas where severe weather has struck hard this year. This has made producers eligible to participate in the Emergency Loan Program, which makes farmers and ranchers immediately eligible for USDA low-interest emergency loans in agricultural disaster areas. All of these efforts, along with the $752-million program that we are now announcing today, is going a long way to assist farmers and ranchers, particularly livestock producers, to recover from these drought conditions.

The President has stated that drought relief must be fiscally responsible and not add to the deficit. The program that we're announcing today meets those principles and will provide immediate assistance to livestock producers who need it the most.

Now I would like to turn this over to Congressman Thune to say a few words. Again, I really appreciate his continued leadership during the drought, and particularly for working on this innovative program to assist our livestock producers around the country, and then we will have our other congressional representatives who are here today provide statements before we open up for questions.

Thank you all very much.

MR. THUNE: Thank you. And I want to express my appreciation to Secretary Veneman, and most importantly to President Bush. This was great news for South Dakota, and it's great for livestock producers all across this country.

One of the things that I have been working on for months, and this is the culmination of a lot of a work, is how can we get assistance, cash assistance to our producers in South Dakota and other areas that have been hit hard by the drought and do it in a direct way, in a quick way, and in a way where we don't get bogged down in the legislative process and the political process.

Today, this is an enormous announcement for livestock producers. As I've traveled across South Dakota, and particularly in the month of August, I heard from producers all across my state that we need to do something, we need to do it soon. The conditions out there are devastating. I have visited all corners of my state. I have seen the impact that this drought is having economically not only our farmers and ranchers, but on our rural communities.

And so today's announcement is incredibly welcome news, and I again would simply add that one of the reasons I think this is so important right now is that the other process that's been in place, some of the disaster assistance that's been proposed and offered in the Senate is now bogged down in the appropriation process, and it would appear, at least for the time being, that the appropriation process is broken. Other forms of legislative initiatives might not be as timely.

As a consequence, we have an opportunity here today to do something that gets cash, money, payments directly to our producers in a very, very quick and expeditious way, and I think that is incredibly important to the producers in my State of South Dakota, and my colleagues from Nebraska, and Kansas, and Wyoming who are here today, many of whom have worked with me, and I credit Secretary Veneman and the administration for being willing to work with us on what I think is a very creative approach.

The Section 32 approach, the discretionary funds, unspent funds that are available this year are funds that can be used for this purpose, and there are a lot of other things that they could be used for, but the fact that they have recognized that this is a high priority for the country, it's a high priority for the people that I represent in South Dakota and all producers across this country who have been hit hard by drought it's just tremendous news.

And so I'm delighted to be here today to be able to join in this announcement. I look forward to traveling my State of South Dakota in the coming days to explain more fully to individual producers what this means, how they can participate in it, but, again, want to extend my appreciation to Secretary Veneman, as well as to President Bush and to my colleagues who have helped make this possible.

So thank you for the opportunity to be here today.

SECRETARY VENEMAN: Thank you.

Senator?

SENATOR THOMAS: Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to join you today.

Certainly, nothing has been more important to us in Wyoming over the last several months except the drought, and you know we've had it for three years. It isn't as if it just came. So it's been a continuing process, and of course livestock people who look to public lands to graze and their own lands to graze have been in real problems.

So it's wonderful, and we appreciate it, and, Congressman Thune, thank you for what you've done on it. Seven hundred and fifty million dollars is a lot of dough. It offsets the costs that have been calculated for livestock losses. I think it's important in this program to be able to have it immediately begin. You sign up here by the 1st of October, and that's very good; direct payments so the producers can use the relief for whatever they need to. So this is excellent.

We're working on some other things such as capital gains reductions and so on, but that's going to take some time. And this is so important to be there, and to be there immediately. So we thank you very much and certainly want to assist whenever we can to get relief to the folks in the country that need it.

Thank you.

SECRETARY VENEMAN: Thank you.

Congressman Osborne?

MR. OSBORNE: Thank you. I'd like to thank you, Secretary Veneman, for coming to Nebraska. I know you saw firsthand some of the problems. We're going through probably the driest period in over 100 years in Nebraska. So there's no pasture, no winter feed left. So what you've done here, and what the President has done is very, very important.

I'd really like to thank my colleague, John Thune, for taking the leadership and all that he has provided in the House of Representatives, also Jerry Moran. But I'm sure without John getting involved in this that I wouldn't be sitting here today. So we appreciate very much what he's done.

I think it's very important that we emphasize the immediacy of this because, as John mentioned, and the Secretary mentioned, if we continued through the current process which is in place, I'm sure that all of our ranchers would not have gotten help for several months. So this is outstanding.

The other thing is that the $750 million, as we've talked to various livestock groups, seems to meet all of their needs and expectations. So this is not something that's going to leave people still devastated. It should take care of what we've been told by the ranchers themselves that they need. So I think that's an excellent step as well.

So we just want to thank all of you for what you've done. We appreciate it very much, and again I want to thank my colleague, John, very much for his leadership.

SECRETARY VENEMAN: Thank you.

We've had Congressman Moran join us now. Thank you for being here.

MR. MORAN: Madam Secretary, thank you for the opportunity. I'm delighted to join you, and my colleagues, and the Senator here at USDA today on what I think is a very important announcement. Clearly, this issue matters to us greatly in Kansas and the Midwest. And as the Congress is unable at the moment to resolve its differences in regard to drought assistance--in fact, those differences may not have anything to do with the drought. The Senate can't pass the bill that the drought amendment is on.

This is so important for USDA to step forward, for the Bush administration to step forward, to provide what I see as very timely and immediate assistance to our livestock producers. They are in desperate shape in the Midwest, in Kansas, as they are in the states around the country, and the timeliness of this couldn't be more better news. The only thing that could be better is a lot more rain, and we'll keep praying and hoping for that.

Let me commend my colleague, Mr. Thune, for his efforts. I have met with John and with Tom Osborne, and I don't think there's been a day gone by in the last two or three, four months, when we've been in session, that we have not talked about the importance of this issue and what steps to take next in order to meet the needs of producers in our states and to meet the needs of agriculture in our country.

This is an issue that John Thune has provide significant and important leadership on, and I'm delighted to be here to commend him and congratulate him on this success. He obviously has the ear of the Secretary of Agriculture, and it's been very beneficial to us, and we're glad to be a part of this program.

So we thank you, Madam Secretary, and, John, appreciate your leadership, as you have worked every day to make sure that we could be here today with a piece of positive news for American agriculture.

MR. QUINN: And now it's time to take questions from our reporters that are on the line today, and our first question is going to be coming from Kelly Lenz, who is at WIBW Radio in Topeka, Kansas. He's with also the Kansas Agriculture Network.

Standing by should be Joe Gangwich.

Our first question from Kelly. Go ahead, Kelly.

QUESTION: Thank you, Larry.

Madam Secretary, by the way, all of us wish you the very best in the struggles that we know you're going to be going through.

And Congressman Moran, it is good to hear from you, sir.

Madam Secretary, there are those who I think interpret the USDA's announcement today as possibly a sign that this may be the end of some form of drought assistance for agricultural producers. Do you view this as the end or perhaps the beginning? That's question number 1.

My follow up to that is one of the concerns that I have heard already from livestock producers who generally welcome this program, is how many hoops am I going to have to jump through to qualify for the money? Would you please respond to that?

SECRETARY VENEMAN: Well, let me first say that USDA has been very, very proactive in taking--using every authority available to try to address our producers who were so impacted by drought this year, and I went through many of those in my opening remarks. Whether it was emergency feed assistance that we announced, $150 million, the non-insured assistance program, the haying and grazing on CRP land, the emergency conservation water program, emergency disaster loans, the EQIP program, and now today, this $752 million that we're announcing, by using a very creative authority of Section 32 to address the issues of drought.

Now, I mean these are all areas where we have authority to act and we are acting to address the immediate needs of our producers, and as we've continually said, those who do not have access to risk management tools like crop insurance are those most impacted, and those are our livestock producers, and today we're announcing a program that will address those needs.

The sign-up is a relatively simple sign-up. It will be one in which the producers can come in and certify the number of animals they have on the specified date, that they've owned them for 90 days, and that they will be entitled to participate in the program, and we should be able to get the payments out quite quickly.

MR. QUINN: Our next question comes from Joe Gangwich at KRVM in Lexington, Nebraska, followed by Ron Hays. Go ahead, Joe.

QUESTION: Thank you, Madam Secretary and Congressmen for being with us this afternoon, and Madam Secretary, our prayers are certainly with you at this time.

Let's talk about--well, let's talk about EQIP. There's a story that came out of Nebraska today. We've got 9,172 applications for EQIP money, but only about close to 600 will be accepted, and only about 600 will get help from that at this time. But how much money is needed? How much more is needed to make sure that we get everyone covered under all these programs that we've been talking about?

SECRETARY VENEMAN: We've had significant new amounts of money authorized in this new farm bill under EQIP and some of that was '02 money, which we are getting out. But I'm going to have Hunt Shipman, who is our Deputy Under Secretary talk just briefly about the operation of the EQIP program.

MR. SHIPMAN: Well, I think the point that the Secretary made is exactly right. The amount of funds that I believe you're referencing are the 2002 funds which we, under a short time frame, in order to make available and disburse before the end of this fiscal year. The new farm bill provides a significant increase in this program, and those funds will be available in subsequent fiscal years to help meet the needs that you identified over that period of time. We're very excited about it and think that it's a very important tool, again, another tool that addresses the needs of livestock producers who haven't been able to take advantage of the crop and commodity programs that have traditionally been provided--that have been provided by USDA.

SENATOR THOMAS: Let me just say this is one of the programs that in the farm bill was given a lot of attention, particularly in states like ours, and EQIP is very important, and as you said, is funded substantially more for next year than it was this year.

MR. QUINN: Our next question comes from Ron Hays with Oklahoma Agrinet in Oklahoma City, and he will be followed by Sally Schuff. Ron, go ahead please.

QUESTION: Thank you, Larry, and good afternoon, Madam Secretary. Our prayers are most certainly with you as well. You used the word "certify" as far as the producers will have to go in and certify the number of livestock that they will actually be applying for assistance for. Could you give us a little more insight on exactly what you're going to be expecting them to bring as of the 1st of October to the FSA office to do that certification?

And then I guess secondly, as far as this pool of money that you've been able to tap, you know, is this fiscal year 2002 money, 2003 money? Could you give us a little more detail about exactly where this money is coming from?

SECRETARY VENEMAN: Let me answer the fiscal issue one first, and then I'll turn it over to Hunt Shipman for the technical issue on what producers are going to have to bring into their county offices.

But this is what is called Section 32 money, which comes out of Customs receipts, so it's a different funding mechanism than we use for many of our other programs, and it is a combination of '02 and '03 money that we would be tapping into. And I must say that our budget estimates show that we will have sufficient funds left in this program to do this, and complete all of our congressionally-mandated requirements that are otherwise used for Section 32 funds.

MR. SHIPMAN: To answer your question about the requirements for certification, again, this program requires a producer to have the livestock on hand on June 1st of this year. We'll look to make sure that they held those livestock for either 90 days prior or 90 days after.

And we want to be flexible in terms of the documentation. It can be sales receipts. It can be other forms of evidence that they can show that they hold those livestock and are eligible to participate. Our county offices will work individually with the producers to review that documentation.

MR. QUINN: Sally Shuff of Farm Progress Magazine has the next question, and she will be followed by Jeff Nalley. Sally, go ahead with your question, please.

QUESTION: Thank you, Larry. And, Madam Secretary, I just want you to know that we are all pulling for you, and very much admire your stance on going--your public awareness on your disease.

My question is on the budgets money left over in Section 32, do you anticipate that there will be any similar program available for specialty crops that do not have a safety net, some crop insurance, or will that fall in another disaster program?

SECRETARY VENEMAN: This is--and thank you for your kind words, Sally. I really appreciate it.

The Section 32 program that we are announcing today is for livestock only, as I indicated. It is based upon the amount of loss that we have estimated that livestock producers are experiencing. At this point we are not looking at assistance in other areas because again, this was the area that has been one of the most affected by the drought and one of those that does not have the access to crop insurance tools. Even many of the specialty crops have access to crop insurance tools as risk management opportunities. And that's why we are targeting this assistance today to livestock producers.

And we really want to thank again Congressman Thune for his leadership in helping us develop this program.

Want to add anything?

MR. THUNE: No, I think you've covered it. And obviously, in my state of South Dakota, the most immediate need is livestock. There are other tools in place for crop growers, and obviously, that is a fight that we're waging in the Congress and will continue to wage that fight. But my fear is that with the appropriations process sort of broken down right now, and the Interior bill that's in the Senate which is carrying the drought assistance, it's hard to say when if ever that might emerge from the Congress and be put on the President's desk.

The important thing right now in my opinion is that this is something that's done quickly, and it's also something that gets a substantial amount of money in the hands of producers with great flexibility. They can use those dollars for whatever reason they deem necessary.

And so I'm glad that this funding mechanism was developed, and it's a great--it's a great place I believe, in terms of priorities, to use these funds this year. There is no higher or greater need in my judgment than to help those, particularly livestock producers, who have been hit hard this year by drought.

MR. QUINN: Our next question comes from Jeff Nalley of WBKR, Owensboro, Kentucky, who is also the Vice President of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, and he'll be followed by Chuck Abbott. Go ahead, Jeff.

QUESTION: Madam Secretary, on behalf of the farm broadcasters--and 3 already spoken, Kelly, Ron and Joe--in our board meeting yesterday we learned of your news. We're pulling for you and on your side and I bring you greetings on behalf of Colene Callahan as well, who's in Illinois country today and not able to be on the phone. We're on your side, and lots of folks pulling for you here.

On to the business at hand. Regardless of the legislative track, assuming that a $6 billion disaster assistance package would be approved, Madam Secretary, would you recommend a presidential veto?

And Congressman Thune, what effect would that administration decision have on, number one, your farmers, your race for Senate, and overall your party's fight for control of either the House or Senate?

SECRETARY VENEMAN: If I can just--again, at this point we have no legislation passed. We have stated many times the principles under which we think assistance needs to be given to farmers and ranchers. And let me just say that this program that we're announcing today goes a long way in meeting all of those principals. Particularly we have said that the livestock producers do not have the risk management tools available to them, particularly through crop insurance as many other producers do, particularly the crop producers. And that they are the most affected by this drought without any way to get any assistance, and that's why the program that we're announcing today is so important.

It impacts the livestock producers. It gives them the ability to get some assistance, particularly at a time where they need it and they need it quickly because the feed deficit is so great. We tried to do that with the initial program that was also very creative, the $150 million we did in the feed assistance program. This program really addresses the needs as have been laid out by the livestock producers and our ERS estimates as to what is needed to really compensate the livestock producers for their losses in these two years of drought.

MR. THUNE: And I guess what I would add, Jeff, is that again this is the most immediate need. And as I traveled across South Dakota, I think this is what producers in my State are saying is, we don't care how it's paid for. We just need it and we need it now, and especially livestock, even Western South Dakota.

With respect to the other--you know, there's another track moving on this, legislative track, and I'm going to work as hard as I can, possibly can, to get as much assistance to our producers in South Dakota as I can. But we don't know the status of that yet. We don't know if that bill is going to emerge from the Senate. If it does, we've got to go into conference with the House. If that happens, I'm going to work very hard with the conferees on the House side, with the administration, to try and get it into a shape in which it can be signed into law.

Jerry Moran and I, and Tom Osborne have introduced legislation well before the August break that would essentially provide assistance for livestock and crop growers, and use payments that aren't going to be made this year under the Farm Bill, LDP payments and other payments, to help pay for that, so that we can find a way to fit within the parameters that the President has suggested.

But I think right now the point is this is a great way, a very creative way of getting assistance out there now, cash in the hands of our livestock producers, and Jerry and I, and Senator Thomas will continue, I'm sure, to work on the other parallel track, the legislative track, but we have to do what we can do, and I'm just delighted and thrilled that we were able to come up with a way to get some of this assistance in the pipeline immediately.

MR. QUINN: And our final question this afternoon comes from Chuck Abbott of Reuters. Go ahead, Chuck.

QUESTION: Good afternoon.

Madam Secretary, you've heard John Thune remark how he and other members of Congress are still interested in a legislative package. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle this afternoon said that the administration proposal is a drop in the bucket and how he hoped it's not a political ploy intended to reduce the pressure on the House and to the White House to pass a drought assistance bill.

You were given a chance a moment ago to see if the administration would veto a drought assistance bill. Let me try it a different way. Does today's announcement obviate the need for Congress to act, and I certainly would be interested in a response from some of the elected officials who are sitting around that table with you.

SECRETARY VENEMAN: Well, again, we have been very consistent in the principles that we've laid out. We've also been very consistent in the need to help those who are most in need, and that is the livestock producers, and that is exactly what we're introducing today or putting forward today is this program that will help livestock producers in a way that will get the benefits out there very immediately.

Now it is very theoretical to talk about what the President will veto or not veto because we have not seen any bill come out of the Congress yet. There's a Senate bill. The House has done nothing. Obviously, there needs to be a conference. So I remind you it's much too theoretical to talk about what the President may or may not do, in terms of any kind of drought assistance that may come out of the Congress.

SENATOR THOMAS: Let me just say that it's still very uncertain in the Senate, but I think this approach that's being taken here is very necessary, in terms of timeliness, in terms of getting out there quickly to these livestock people. I think there will be a bill on drought assistance. It may not be $6 billion. It may be something less.

I believe it will be accepted by the administration, frankly, because there's a real problem out there, has been for several years, but no one knows, and so that's why this one is so helpful that we can go ahead and move it in a timely way, but I think there will be additional help.

MR. MORAN: I think this is a great step. It certainly reduces the need for a legislative package in regard to the livestock side of agriculture. But as John Thune indicated, those of us who come from drought-stricken states with farmers who are struggling every day, who question whether or not they can make it to the next year, I think there are those of us in Congress who believe that additional steps related to the crop side of agriculture have to be taken.

And what our job, as I see it, is to do as well as we can on their behalf, that battle, in a way that lends itself to meet the criteria outlined by the Secretary, outlined by the administration.

What it takes for a bill to become law includes a presidential signature, it includes the necessary package by the House and Senate, and certainly in the House of Representatives, we have our work cut out for us, in large part, I think because Senators, all of them represent agriculture and farm interests. Many members of Congress come from areas of the country that are not rural, and at least they perceive they have no farmer interests.

And so our hill to climb in the House of Representatives seems to me to be slightly higher than what the Senate experiences, in that there is less sympathy, less engagement in agriculture by many members of the House, where every Senator has to worry about their farmers and their rural areas.

And so we will work, continue to work to make certain that this issue of assistance on the crop side is something that the President can sign, something that can pass the House and something that's beneficial to farmers across the country.

MR. THUNE: I would just add one thing, and that is that we are in a political atmosphere, obviously, and there's a lot of political rhetoric that's associated with that in an election year, but I think what we ought to focus on is solving the problem. I mean, how do we get this job done? How do we help producers?

And what this is, is a solution which gets around the politics, gets around sometimes what are the vagaries and nuances of the legislative process, which at this point are very uncertain, and deliver some assistance. I mean, this is a way of solving a problem out there for our livestock producers and, frankly, I think that's what we ought to be focused on, rather than the politics of an election year.

Because no matter what solution is proposed or what the administration says they might sign, there will be somebody who tries to up that by a little bit more because the atmosphere we're in, but I think that's, frankly, not a productive way to do this. We need to do this in a constructive way, a way that's oriented toward solving the problem and getting a solution for our farmers and ranchers. This is exactly that type of an approach, and I'm pleased that we were able to come up with it and that we're going to put it in place.

MR. QUINN: Thank you all very much, reporters, for your questions.

In the very few moments we have left, Madam Secretary, do you have a closing comment?

SECRETARY VENEMAN: Well, thank you, Larry.

I just want to thank all of the reporters for bearing with us this afternoon as we've had these delays. I want to thank the members of Congress for their participation today, and I particularly want to thank Congressman John Thune for working with us on this very innovative approach to help our livestock producers.

As we've said over and over, we have wanted to provide assistance to those who are most in need, and that is the livestock producers who don't have access to risk-management tools like crop insurance that so many of our crop producers have access to. The needs here are so immediate, and this program is uniquely designed to address those immediate needs of the livestock producers.

We've talked a lot about what if Congress acts or doesn't act, but the fact of the matter is that even if Congress were to act tomorrow, it would be very difficult to get assistance out to farmers quickly, and we've designed this unique program to be able to address the needs of livestock producers quickly and to be able to address those needs and get the assistance in the producers' hands.

So, again, I very much appreciate the participation of all of you today, and thank you again, Congressman Thune, for your assistance in helping us work through this very innovative program that will get immediate assistance to our livestock producers, and thanks to all of you broadcasters who participated with us today as well.

MR. QUINN: Thank you, Madam Secretary, Ann M. Veneman, for being with us today, and thank you, reporters.

I'm Larry Quinn, reporting to you from Washington, D.C.

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