Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 2.djvu/263

 PUBLIC LAW 98-396—AUG. 22, 1984

98 STAT. 1423

County, Wcishington, not more than one thousand acres of land at an estimated cost of $8,500,000 for the fish and wildlife mitigation purposes associated with this project. The Secretary is further authorized to undertake initial development of such lands and convey without monetary consideration the lands to the Department of the Interior, United States Fish and Wildlife Service for operation and maintenance. An additional amount of $8,500,000, to remain available until expended, is hereby appropriated for "Construction, general". Corps of Engineers—Civil, Department of the Army to carry out the provisions of this section. SEC. 304. No funds appropriated by this or any other Act to the Federal Communications Commission may be used to implement the Commission's decision adopted on July 26, 1984, in Docket GEN 83-1009 as it applies to television licenses, prior to April 1, 1985, or for sixty days after the Commission's reconsideration of its decision in this matter, whichever is later. The term "implement" shall include but not be limited to processing, review, approval, or acquisition of any interest in or the transfer or assignment of television licenses. SEC. 305. (a) The Congress finds and declares that— (1) the competing credit demands by State and local governments, agriculture, business, and consumers, aggravated by massive Federal debt financing and increasing credit demands by foreign governments, continue to cause serious economic disruption in rural America; (2) the United States has a vital interest in protecting the economic health of American farmers; (3) the American farmer has been caught in an unprecedented credit squeeze; (4) monetary and fiscal policies have substantially caused real interest rates to remain at two or three times historic levels of such rates; (5) high real interest rates have dramatically increased the value of the dollar to the detriment of farmers who devote at least one out of three acres of land to production for export; (6) the average value of an acre of farm land fell this year for the third year in a row, the longest sustained decline since the Great Depression; (7) the total amount of debt owed by American farmers is $203,800,000,000; (8) last year Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela held $260,000,000,000 in external debt and the interest payments on these loans alone totaled more than $20,000,000,000; (9) the Governments of Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela have been successful in securing postponements in debt and principal repayments, favorable renegotiations, new loan guarantees, and other special arrangements through private negotiations, assistance from the United States Government, and the International Monetary Fund; and (10) American farmers have been unsuccessful in obtaining as favorable special treatment from private banks or the Federal Government. (b) It is therefore the sense of the Congress that— (1) the President, in cooperation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, should exercise appropriate authority to assure that an adequate flow of credit be available

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FCC television licensing.

Farmers, availability of credit.

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