[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 52 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 52

   Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the need to address 
                  immediately the current milk crisis.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 11, 1997

  Mr. Specter (for himself, Mr. Santorum, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Kohl, Mr. 
Jeffords, and Mr. Leahy) submitted the following resolution; which was 
                  ordered to lie over, under the rule

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the need to address 
                  immediately the current milk crisis.

Whereas during the last few months farm milk prices have experienced substantial 
        volatility, dropping precipitously from $15.37 per hundredweight in 
        September 1996 to $11.34 per hundredweight in December 1996 while 
        simultaneously there have been record high costs for cattle feed;
Whereas there is a strong sense of financial crisis in the dairy industry;
Whereas many dairy farmers have looked to the Federal Government for relief 
        because minimum milk prices under the Milk Marketing Orders are 
        established by the Department of Agriculture;
Whereas the price of cheese at the National Cheese Exchange in Green Bay, 
        Wisconsin, influences milk prices paid to farmers because of its use in 
        the Department of Agriculture's Basic Formula Price under Federal Milk 
        Marketing Orders;
Whereas less than 1 percent of the cheese produced in the United States is sold 
        on the National Cheese Exchange and the Exchange acts as a reference 
        price for as much as 95 percent of the commercial bulk cheese sales in 
        the Nation;
Whereas there has been some concern among dairy producers that the prices at the 
        National Cheese Exchange may have been manipulated downward, benefiting 
        processors at the expense of dairy farmers; and
Whereas it is in the national interest to ensure that market prices for milk, 
        cheese, and other dairy products are determined by a fair and 
        competitive marketplace: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate of the United States 
that the Secretary of Agriculture should act immediately pursuant to 
his legal authority to modify the Basic Formula Price for dairy by 
replacing the National Cheese Exchange as a factor to be considered in 
setting the Basic Formula Price and to establish in its place an 
equivalent pricing mechanism more reflective of the actual market 
conditions for cheese and other dairy products nationally.
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