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Senate Agriculture Hearing Begins Farm Bill Debate; Dairy is Front and Center Testifying before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee last week, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns reviewed the Bush administration's Farm Bill proposal that was released January 31. The four-hour hearing, chaired by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), represented the first opportunity for committee members to react to the proposal and to express their positions on Farm Bill issues."Criticism of the administration's lack of any meaningful changes to U.S. dairy policy was certainly on display at the first congressional hearing on the Farm Bill," said Chip Kunde, IDFA senior vice president. During the hearing, Johanns reviewed the administration's proposal to extend the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program and continue the Dairy Price Support Program. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) voiced his concerns about continuing the MILC program. In response, the secretary claimed that the while some in the administration wanted to eliminate MILC, he wanted a more market-oriented approach based on a historical average with lower payment percentages. Once a subsidy program has been established, it's difficult to do away with it, Johanns explained. Sen. Leahy applauded the administration for supporting MILC, but complained, along with Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), that the program funding was being cut. Sen. Crapo also asked Johanns about the absence of dairy forward contracting in the proposal and asked the secretary to clarify the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) position on the program. In response, Johanns expressed strong support for reinstituting the forward contracting program and agreed to Sen. Crapo's request to send a letter detailing USDA's continued support of the program. Sen. Coleman also stated his support for dairy forward contracting. "We applaud the efforts by Senators Crapo and Coleman for their strong support for more risk management tools for dairy producers, like forward contracting, and pressing the secretary to reiterate the administration's support for this successful program," said Kunde. Johanns said he recognized that the Federal Milk Marketing Order review process was slow and cumbersome, and he acknowledged that important decisions were taking over a year to be made. His comments suggest a growing awareness within the administration of the problems with federal orders and its openness to new solutions. "The secretary's comments on federal orders clearly acknowledge the growing dissatisfaction by members of Congress, IDFA and other industry players over the slow pace of the decision-making process," said Kunde. 'The next Farm Bill provides an excellent opportunity to streamline this process." Other committee members who attended the hearing were Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dick Lugar (R-IN), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and John Thune (R-SD). IDFA will continue to call for an improved national safety net for dairy farmers and for reforms to the Federal Milk Marketing Order decision-making process. IDFA urges members to encourage their local members of Congress to support more meaningful reforms to dairy policies in the Farm Bill. For more information, contact Kunde at ckunde@idfa.org or 202-220-3512.
Posted February 12, 2007
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