[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 164 (Thursday, November 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S14763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NORTHEAST DAIRY COMPACT

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, in a while--though it is not clear 
when--it is my understanding that Congressman Obey from Wisconsin--and 
I see Senator Feingold from Wisconsin on the floor right now--is in the 
House with any number of different motions to adjourn before this 
conference report is acted upon.
  We will eventually get this huge omnibus conference report. Those of 
us from the midwest dairy States are indignant about what has been 
done. It goes beyond dairy. Later on, believe me, we are going to have 
plenty of time to talk about dairy farmers. We are going to talk about 
what it means to dairy farmers, what it means to our States, and what 
it means to the country when, in a conference committee, provisions 
that extend the Northeast Dairy Compact and also block what Secretary 
Glickman was trying to do with the milk marketing order reform are put 
into the overall bill.
  What I want to focus on is the process. To focus on the process, one 
might say, is a little bit too inside Washington politics, but I do not 
think so because actually, I say to my colleagues, Democrats and 
Republicans alike, this is, in a way, what makes people most 
distrustful of what we do.
  By the way, I am not going to argue that everything we do should be 
looked upon with suspicion by citizens. I am not going to engage in an 
across-the-board indiscriminate bashing of the whole political process. 
But I will say, if people do not believe in the process, they do not 
believe in the product.
  Again, what has happened, in all due respect to the negotiators, is 
by not getting the work done on these appropriations bills and by 
putting all of this into an omnibus bill, we have had a few people 
negotiating. If the majority party in a conference committee wants to 
roll the minority party, they can do so. That is what they have done in 
the House by basically putting in this provision that extends the 
Northeast Dairy Compact and blocks the milk marketing order reform.
  We had a vote on this in the Senate. We voted against extending the 
dairy compact. It was a square and fair debate and vote. Then, in a 
conference committee, completely unrelated to the appropriations bills, 
completely unrelated to what the scope of the conference committee was 
supposed to be, these provisions were put back in the bill in the dark 
of night. House Majority Leader Armey announced they had done it, and 
Senate Majority Leader Lott announced the provision was in. There was 
never debate and discussion. They tucked into the conference report 
this huge monstrosity of a bill that hardly any of us have had a chance 
to read yet, which will be coming over here sometime.
  I come to the floor to say to Congressman Obey in the House: I 
applaud your efforts. What we have is raw politics--just get this 
through. That is what they have done with this Northeast Dairy Compact. 
They could not do it on the floor of the Senate. They stuck it in a 
conference report. They did it in the dead of night. They did it 
outside any public scrutiny. And now they present it to us in a 
conference report as a fait accompli. They set up a continuing 
resolution that goes into next week.
  They figure out ways of jamming people, and it is unclear as to what 
leverage we have left. But, as Congressman Obey is doing in the House, 
I am sure those of us who are from Wisconsin and Minnesota in the 
Senate intend to speak out. We intend to be very clear about what has 
happened, and we will do all we can as Senators. We will go from there.
  I say to my colleagues that almost as much as the final product, I 
came to the floor of the Senate to strongly dissent from the way it was 
done.
  I understand the rules. I understand what it is all about when people 
have figured out a way to roll Senators. I think that is what the 
majority leader, the Senate majority leader, and House Majority Leader 
Armey have done. I think that is what the Republicans have done in this 
conference committee. There is no question about it.
  But I want people in Minnesota to know that we will continue to speak 
out about this, even as we see less and less opportunities for our 
leverage. We will fight in whatever way we can. We will certainly not 
be silent about this.
  When this bill comes over, I would think, I say to my colleague from 
Wisconsin, Senator Feingold, we can probably expect a considerable 
amount of discussion about not only the impact on dairy farmers and 
what it is going to mean for a lot of people who are going to go under 
who are already struggling enough, but I think also, I say to Senator 
Feingold, who has been such a reformer, the way it has been done, the 
whole process, which I think is profoundly antidemocratic, with a small 
``d''--not up-or-down votes, late at night, tucked into a report; by 
whom, when, how, not at all clear, and then design rules in such a way 
you can just roll it through--we will certainly be speaking out loudly 
and clearly about it.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.

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