The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union released yesterday the second in a series of videos alerting consumers, taxpayers and the organizations' members to the dangers of the Dairy Market Stabilization Program (DSMP). The stabilization provision would launch a new raft of complicated federal rules and regulations aimed at keeping prices high for families who buy milk or dairy products and continue government control over the nation's milk supply.

The Dairy Market Stabilization Program is included in the $969 billion Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act, the proposed Farm Bill that was approved by the House Committee on Agriculture in July. The bill now awaits floor debate by the full House where the controversial program faces strong opposition. Former Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Representative David Scott (D-GA) are expected to offer an amendment to delete the stabilization program.   

'Let Free Market Drive Milk Production'

"One of the most interesting facts to come out of the recent election is that 51 percent of voters believe that government is doing too much, an increase of 7 percent from 2008," said CCAGW President Tom Schatz. "The DMSP is precisely the kind of incessant meddling that has outraged American taxpayers. The U.S. dairy program is already a mindlessly convoluted patchwork of government manipulation; instead of grafting more rules and regulations onto an already incomprehensible operation, the federal government should be getting out of the way and letting the free market drive milk production."

The U.S. dairy industry has grown 66 percent in the last 40 years and now creates 8,400 jobs for every billion dollars in dairy exports. A supply management provision such as the DMSP would interfere with free market forces to keep milk prices high, making dairy products more expensive. It also would increase taxpayers' costs for federal nutrition programs, including food stamps and school meals programs.

The video is available at YourMilkMoney.org.

IDFA also opposes the stabilization provision and urges Congress to support the bipartisan, compromise Goodlatte-Scott amendment. It would provide an effective safety net for dairy producers without restraining the industry's ability to serve growing markets.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. NTU is a nonpartisan citizen group founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes and limited government.

For more information, contact Jerry Slominski, IDFA senior vice president of legislative affairs and economic policy, at jslominski@idfa.org.