CLINTON SIGNS AID MEASURE; $5.7 BILLION IN FLOOD RELIEF TO BE OFFERED

ST. LOUIS President Clinton Thursday signed into law a $5.7 billion disaster relief bill to aid Midwestern flood victims, who he hailed as ordinary people who through heroic deeds inspired all of America.

Clinton, who stopped in St. Louis on his way to see Pope John Paul II in Denver, also signed a bill that will relax federal regulations on banks serving flood-ravaged areas.

Most of the ceremony, though, was spent paying tribute to 18 flood-relief heroes from nine flood-affected states.

"These people are ordinary people, but what they did was most extraordinary," Clinton said. "(They) took on the raging rivers to stick up for their friends, neighbors and total strangers."

The president said that although 45 lives were lost and more than 70,000 people were evacuated because of the flood, the situation would have been much worse without the heroics of citizens throughout the Midwest.

The disaster relief bill sends $2.3 billion to the Commodity Credit Corporation for disaster payments to farmers. Another $2 billion will go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for repairs of housing and public facilities.

Money also is allocated for health and social service needs of flood victims and to provide temporary jobs and job training.

The bill passed quickly through Congress, and Clinton praised the "bipartisan support" for the relief package.

"We finally found something that Senator Dole and I can agree on," the president quipped, referring to the Senate minority leader. "This is an extraordinary measure taken under extraordinary circumstances with real speed."

Clinton also pledged to deliver the aid package "free of the bonds of red tape.

"Disasters provide enough grief without more coming from Washington," he added.

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Mo., attended the ceremony, along with other elected officials from the flood-ravaged Midwest. Emerson said he supports the bill, but added that he doubts it will be sufficient.

"I think it is a beginning, I don't think it is the end," Emerson said. "Not until the waters fully recede can we make a complete assessment of the damage."

The congressman said the bill replenishes and adds to federal money available for disaster relief, but added, "further action will be necessary."

Emerson said fears are unwarranted that Cape Girardeau, at the southern end of the flood area, will not receive as much disaster aid as cities upstream.

"Everybody's going to get treated equally," he said. "If this is inadequate, in my view, there will be a supplemental appropriations bill, because they're not going to treat better the people of Nebraska and Iowa than they are the people of southern Missouri.

Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., also said the aid package won't adequately meet all the needs of flood victims.

But he called the bill the "first down-payment" toward relief and "getting people back on their feet again."

Over the past several weeks, Gephardt said, the many flood warriors have embodied "what's truly great about our country:

"Neighbors helping neighbors, communities pulling together to fight back the floodwaters, and endless chains of sandbaggers, working day and night, some of them even after their homes had been engulfed by water."

Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan recalled the outpouring of volunteer help in the flood, where "strangers have come to the aid of strangers and discovered neighbors."

He called the flood fight moving. "As destructive as these times have been, they also remind us of the heartiness and the resilience of the human spirit."

Clinton added: "We know we cannot contain the fury of the river, but we can and we must allow our humanity to overflow as well, to help reclaim the lives that are shattered."

As important as the battles to keep floodwaters away, Clinton said, are continued efforts in the cleanup. He said it's impossible to "roll up your sleeves when you're wringing your hands.

"When the floods were coming," he said, "no one had time to wring their hands, so they just automatically rolled up their sleeves. When the floods go away, we have time to wring our hands, so a lot of us don't roll up our sleeves."

The president encouraged citizens of flood-affected areas to continue to help their neighbors in the ongoing flood recovery.

"You can be sure we will continue to review the help needed by people of this region," he said. "We're in it for the long run."