Non-recourse marketing loans had long been available to support honey prices until FY1994, when the funding was suspended by provisions in annual appropriations legislation. The FACT Act of 1990 had set honey loan rates at 53.8 cents per pound and permitted deficiency payments. The 1996 FAIR Act repealed the statutory authority for the honey program. A Honey Recourse Loan programme was made available the 1998 crop only through broader emergency spending authority in the FY1999 agriculture appropriations act (P.L. 105-277, October 21, 1998).