[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21728]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    MANY REASONS TO OPPOSE H.R. 1402

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, what do the following groups 
have in common: The National Taxpayers Union and the Teamsters? The 
Consumer Federation of America and the AFL-CIO? Citizens Against 
Government Waste and the Snack Food Association? Newspapers from the 
New York Times and USA Today to the Washington Post to the Houston 
Chronicle?
  Mr. Speaker, the answer is simple. All of these groups oppose the 
outdated milk pricing system currently in effect. And yet soon, Mr. 
Speaker, this House will take up legislation that will raise milk 
prices for consumers and will reimpose a Soviet-style dairy policy.
  Now, the antireform dairy folks, those who are supporting this 
legislation, House Resolution 1402, I believe should be ashamed of 
themselves. Now, there is one thing that we agree upon, myself and 
those who support H.R. 1402. We agree that our dairy farmers are 
hurting. No one understands the plight of dairy farmers better than I, 
better than any of us who come from States like Minnesota and 
Wisconsin. In the last 10 years, my State of Wisconsin has lost more 
dairy farms than most States ever had.
  Mr. Speaker, to drive the point home in a very real way, please 
realize this: that by this time tomorrow, by this time tomorrow, 
Wisconsin will have lost five more dairy farms.
  But despite that fact, the fact that we do need to do something, H.R. 
1402 is the wrong way to go. It is the wrong way to go because it pits 
farmer against farmer, region against region, State versus State, 
through an outdated pricing policy that gives producers more money for 
their fluid milk based upon their proximity to the City of Eau Claire, 
Wisconsin.
  Second, H.R. 1402 is the wrong way to go because it is based on 
typewriter era technology. This system was created over 60 years ago, 
60 years ago when we did not have the interstate transportation system, 
when we did not have refrigerated trucks. It is an outdated policy.
  The third reason is if, as if we needed more reasons, the third 
reason to reject H.R. 1402, quite frankly, it is a tax on milk to 
consumers. As a result of H.R. 1402 and the system it seeks to 
reinforce and reimpose, our consumers, consumers all across America, 
working families, will pay more for their milk to the tune of hundreds 
of millions of dollars each and every year.
  We should oppose H.R. 1402 because it is antitrade, antifree-market, 
anticompetitive. At the very time when we are pushing nations all 
around the world to open up their markets, to become more 
entrepreneurial, more free-market based, here in this country, this 
bill would reimpose and reinforce trade barriers. It would block the 
flow of dairy products between the States. That is wrong-headed.
  Finally, we should oppose H.R. 1402 and the system it seems to 
reimpose because it is absurd. Can my colleagues imagine if we priced 
oranges based upon the proximity, their proximity of production to the 
city of Miami, or if we paid more for computer software based upon how 
far it was located and produced from the city of Seattle, or chocolate 
from Hershey, Pennsylvania. No, we cannot, because we would never have 
such an absurd system, and yet, that is exactly, that is precisely what 
we do for fluid milk. Producers get more for more fluid milk based upon 
how close they are to the City of Eau Claire.
  It is time for reform; it is time to move into the 21st century using 
new technologies and market-based forces; it is the time now to reject 
H.R. 1402, to allow Secretary Glickman's reforms to go into effect.

                          ____________________