[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 98 (Monday, June 18, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  NDEA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN M. McHUGH

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 18, 2007

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, under the NDEA, when the Class I milk 
price in the Boston market falls below the established minimum price, 
processors would pay an over-order premium--the difference between the 
minimum price set by the applicable Regional Dairy Board and the Boston 
Class I price--into a national fund. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture 
would then distribute the monies in the fund back to the Boards 
according to a formula whereby each region would get back the greater 
of what they pay into the fund or the amount of the over-order payments 
a region would have generated if it had a Class I utilization rate of 
50 percent. In the event of a shortfall, the Secretary would supplement 
the money in the fund from savings from the MILC program to ensure that 
the Regional Dairy Boards, and subsequently the dairy farmers 
themselves, would receive the full payments.
  The Regional Dairy Boards would be comprised of three members from 
each participating state in a particular region. The U.S. Secretary of 
Agriculture would make the nominations to the Boards after receiving 
nominees put forward by governors or elected state agricultural 
commissioner after consultation with the dairy industry. Each state 
delegation to the Regional Dairy Boards would consist of three 
representatives, with at least one producer and one consumer.
  In addition to the responsibility to establish minimum prices and 
distribute payments to dairy farmers, the Regional Dairy Boards would 
have the authority to conduct supply management programs when 
necessary, including the development of incentive-based programs. 
Moreover, in order to prevent overproduction, regions in which the 
growth in milk production is higher than the national average would be 
required to reimburse the U.S. Secretary of Treasury for the cost of 
government dairy surplus purchases up to the amount that the region is 
receiving under the NDEA.
  It is important to note that the NDEA would not establish national 
pooling. Rather, it would create an equalization fund whereby processor 
paid funds would go to a central account at the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture; government funds would be added to that fund and then 
payments would be made to the various regions according to a formula, 
which would permit regions with low Class I utilization to receive the 
same benefit as those regions with higher utilization.
  Also of significance, the NDEA would be entirely optional for the 
states and individual farmers. Thus, those states that do not wish to 
participate in the NDEA program could simply choose to continue to 
participate in the MILC program, which the NDEA would extend to 2012, 
and individual farmers in states participating in the new NDEA program 
could instead opt to merely continue receiving payments under their 
current MILC contract rather than under the NDEA. However, those 
individuals would not be eligible to extend their MILC contract beyond 
September 2008 and would lose all future eligibility to participate in 
the NDEA program.
  Madam Speaker, the NDEA would create a market-orientated, counter-
cyclical program to help all of our Nation's dairy farmers while 
simultaneously saving taxpayers money. Accordingly, I ask my colleagues 
to join with me to enact this important legislation.

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