[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 13, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S1266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              NATIONAL DAIRY FARMERS FAIRNESS ACT OF 2001

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I am pleased to rise today and join my 
colleague Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania to reintroduce 
legislation to provide much needed assistance to our Nation's dairy 
producers who continue to face the lowest milk prices in over two 
decades.
  Due to the failures of the Federal order reform process and the lack 
of a meaningful dairy price safety net, this legislation is an 
appropriate and necessary response to the ongoing regional milk pricing 
inequities and the dairy income crisis affecting all producers. In the 
past, the divisive and controversial dairy compact system has hindered 
Congress's efforts to achieve a fair and equitable national dairy 
policy. I am pleased to join with Senator Santorum and reintroduce this 
legislation to create a regionally equitable plan that will provide a 
safety net for small and medium size producers regardless of location.
  The National Dairy Farmers Fairness Act of 2001 has two major goals: 
(1) To create a dairy policy that is equitable for farmers in all 
regions of the country; (2) provide stability for dairy producers in 
the prices they receive for their milk. To accomplish these goals, this 
legislation creates a price safety net for farmers by providing 
supplemental income payments when milk prices are low. A ``sliding-
scale'' payment is made based upon the previous year's price for the 
national average for Class III milk. In essence, the payment rate to 
farmers is highest when the national Class III average is the lowest. 
To participate in this program, a farmer must have produced milk for 
commercial sale in the previous year. Payments under the program are 
also capped for the first 26,000 hundredweight of production. Again, 
all dairy producers would be eligible to participate under this 
scenario.
  The fiscal year 2001 Agriculture Appropriations bill provided $667 
million in emergency direct payments to dairy producers for losses 
incurred this year. While this action was absolutely necessary to 
respond to the dairy market loss crisis, it is time that an on-going 
program providing supplemental income payments to farmers when milk 
prices decline be established.
  This important legislation represents a bipartisan and national 
approach in providing predictability and price stability in this 
otherwise volatile industry. Again, I am pleased to join with Senator 
Santorum in introducing the National Dairy Farmers Fairness Act and 
look forward to working with him in passing this important legislation.

                          ____________________