[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                BOYCOTT THE ALTERNATIVE ICE CREAM PARTY

 Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today to request a boycott by 
all Senators to the ``Alternative Ice Cream Party'' being sponsored by 
Senators from the Northeastern United States. The ``Party'' is designed 
to rally support for the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact. The dairy 
compact that was eliminated by the recently revised milk marketing 
orders has cost consumers in the Northeast over $60 million and cost 
child and nutrition programs an additional $9 million. If proposals to 
expand dairy compacts to 27 states this year are adopted, it will force 
60% of the consumers in the nation to pay an additional $2 billion, 
that's correct, $2 billion a year in higher milk prices. And while the 
Northeast's consumers are purchasing overpriced milk, Wisconsin is 
losing dairy farmers by the day--over 7,000 in the past few years.
  Mr. President, rather than ice cream, the Northeast Senators should 
give away cow manure instead: At leastthen the freebies would have some 
relation to the legislation they are pushing. There are many other 
areas of concern I have in regard to this issue, particularly why the 
hard-working cows in the Northeast are not seeing the money from the 
extra profits that the large processors are making. I am surprised that 
animal rights and labor activists have not raised issue with the long 
hours worked and extra milk that cows in the Northeast are forced to 
produce. I am doubly surprised that my good friends from the Northeast 
can sit in Washington eating free ice cream while poor children in New 
England end up paying more for their school lunch milk because of the 
dairy compact.
  If we as the United States can no longer expect to give a fair (milk) 
shake to dairy farmers and consumers across the country, then maybe it 
is time for the Northeast to secede from the Union. Maybe Canada would 
be willing to accept them. But then, of course, the North American Free 
Trade Agreement would require them to practice free trade and eliminate 
the dairy compact.

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