[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2706 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2706

To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to establish a program 
to provide dairy farmers a price safety net for small- and medium-sized 
                            dairy producers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 8, 2000

Mr. Santorum (for himself and Mr. Kohl) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to establish a program 
to provide dairy farmers a price safety net for small- and medium-sized 
                            dairy producers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Dairy Farmers Fairness Act 
of 2000''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) dairy farm families of the United States are enduring 
        an unprecedented financial crisis;
            (2) the price of raw milk sent to the market by the dairy 
        farm families has fallen to the levels received in 1978; and
            (3) the number of family-sized dairy operations has 
        decreased by almost 75 percent in the last 2 decades, with some 
        States losing nearly 10 percent of their dairy farmers in 
        recent months.

SEC. 3. DAIRY FARMERS PROGRAM.

    Chapter 1 of subtitle D of the Agricultural Market Transition Act 
(7 U.S.C. 7251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 153. DAIRY FARMERS PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Applicable fiscal year.--The term `applicable fiscal 
        year' means each of fiscal years 2001 and 2002.
            ``(2) Class III milk.--The term `Class III milk' means milk 
        classified as Class III milk under a Federal milk marketing 
        order issued under section 8c of the Agricultural Adjustment 
        Act (7 U.S.C. 608c), reenacted with amendments by the 
        Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937.
    ``(b) Payments.--For each applicable fiscal year, the Secretary 
shall make a payment to producers on a farm that, during the applicable 
fiscal year, produced milk for commercial sale, in the amount obtained 
by multiplying--
            ``(1) the payment rate for the applicable fiscal year 
        determined under subsection (c); by
            ``(2) the payment quantity for the applicable fiscal year 
        determined under subsection (d).
    ``(c) Payment Rate.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the payment 
        rate for a payment made to producers on a farm for an 
        applicable fiscal year under subsection (b) shall be determined 
        as follows:

``If the average price received by  The payment rate for a payment made 
        producers in the United             to producers on a farm for 
        States for Class III milk           the applicable fiscal year 
        during the preceding fiscal         under subsection (b) shall 
        year was (per                       be (per hundredweight)--
        hundredweight)--
    $10.50 or less................................                 .50 
    $10.51 through $11.00.........................                 .42 
    $11.01 through $11.50.........................                 .34 
    $11.51 through $12.00.........................                 .26 
    $12.01 through $12.50.........................                 .18.
            ``(2) Increased payment rate.--If the producers on a farm 
        produce during an applicable fiscal year a quantity of all milk 
        that is not more than the quantity of all milk produced by the 
        producers on the farm during the preceding fiscal year, the 
        payment rate for a payment to the producers on the farm for the 
        applicable fiscal year under paragraph (1) shall be increased 
        as follows:

``If the average price received by  The payment rate for a payment made 
        producers in the United             to the producers on the 
        States for Class III milk           farm for the applicable 
        during the preceding fiscal         fiscal year under paragraph 
        year was (per                       (1) shall be increased by 
        hundredweight)--                    (per hundredweight)--
    $10.50 or less................................                 .30 
    $10.51 through $11.00.........................                 .26 
    $11.01 through $11.50.........................                 .22 
    $11.51 through $12.00.........................                 .18 
    $12.01 through $12.50.........................                 .14.
    ``(d) Payment Quantity.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the quantity 
        of all milk for which the producers on a farm shall receive a 
        payment for an applicable fiscal year under subsection (b) 
        shall be equal to the quantity of all milk produced by the 
        producers on the farm during the applicable fiscal year.
            ``(2) Maximum quantity.--The quantity of all milk for which 
        the producers on a farm shall receive a payment for an 
        applicable year under subsection (b) shall not exceed 26,000 
        hundredweight of all milk.
    ``(e) Commodity Credit Corporation.--The Secretary shall carry out 
the program authorized by this section through the Commodity Credit 
Corporation.''.
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