[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12978-12979]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I wanted to draw the attention of the 
Senate to an important funding issue that is pending in the Senate 
version of the Labor/HHS Appropriations bill. The funding level for 
Social Security administrative expenses doesn't receive much attention, 
but it is critical to the effective delivery of Social Security 
benefits to those who are entitled to them.
  Social Security administrative expenses are actually partially funded 
from the Social Security trust funds, and they ensure that the programs 
administered by the Social Security Administration are delivered to the 
American public in an efficient, timely, and professional manner. In 
addition, SSA maintains records of the yearly earnings of over 140 
million U.S. workers and provides them with annual estimates of their 
future benefits. The agency will also administer the Ticket to Work 
Program, and the administrative workload associated with the Retirement 
Earnings Test.
  I am concerned that the level of funding contained in the Labor/HHS 
Appropriations bill is not sufficient, and does not recognize the 
administrative challenges Social Security will be facing in the near 
future. Last year the Social Security Administration provided service 
to 48 million people. In 2010 SSA will be providing services to 62 
million people, due to the retirement of many baby boomers. During this 
same period, the SSA will lose nearly half of its staff to retirement, 
including many individuals who staff the offices located in our states 
and who work directly with the public.
  In North Dakota, there have been large staff reductions in some of my 
state's main SSA offices. These shortages have affected timely 
completion of continuing disability reviews, and service delivery has 
been difficult to maintain for those who live in rural areas.
  The Social Security Advisory Board--a bipartisan Congressionally 
mandated Board--recently issued a report on ``How the Social Security 
Administration Can Improve Its Service to the Public,'' which stated 
that ``there is a serious administrative deficit now in that there is a 
significant gap between the level of services the public needs and that 
which the agency is providing. Moreover, this gap could grow to far 
larger proportions in the long term if it is not adequately 
addressed.''
  The Senate Labor/HHS bill includes a funding level that is $123 
million below

[[Page 12979]]

the President's request. I hope that as the appropriations process 
moves forward, the Congress will work to ensure an adequate level of 
funding for SSA administrative expenses.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate National Dairy 
Month, and the wonderful history of our nation's dairy industry. During 
June Dairy Month we in Wisconsin take a special opportunity to 
celebrate Wisconsin dairy's proud tradition and heritage of quality. 
This month provides an opportunity for all Wisconsinites--both those on 
and off the farm--a special time to reflect on the historical 
importance, and future of America's dairy industry.
  This month is especially important to my home state of Wisconsin, 
America's Dairyland. What many of my colleagues may not know is that 
Wisconsin became a leader in the dairy industry well before the 1930's 
when it was officially nicknamed America's Dairyland. It was soon after 
the first dairy cow came to Wisconsin in the 1800's that we began to 
take the dairy industry by storm.
  In fact, before Wisconsin was even a state, Ms. Anne Pickett 
established Wisconsin's first cheese factory when she combined milk 
from her cows with milk from her neighbor's cows and made it into 
cheese.
  Over the past month, Wisconsinites have recognized this proud 
tradition by holding over 100 dairy celebrations across our state, 
including dairy breakfasts, ice cream socials, cooking demonstrations, 
festivals and other events.
  These functions help to reinforce the consumer's awareness of the 
quality variety and great taste of Wisconsin's dairy products and to 
honor the producers who make it possible.
  Unfortunately, the picture for producers has not been that bright. 
Dairy prices for this year's National Dairy Month, along with most of 
the first half of this year, have reached all times lows.
  Low milk prices--the lowest since 1978--are wreaking havoc on 
Wisconsin's rural communities. In addition to these low prices, dairy 
farmers are also facing month to month price fluctuations of up to 40 
percent.
  What is so troublesome is that farmers are experiencing these low 
prices while the retail price continues to increase. In fact, thanks to 
a 20 percent jump last year in the retail price, the farm retail price 
spread for dairy products has more than doubled since the early 1980s.
  Because of this concern, earlier this year, Senator Leahy and I asked 
the General Accounting Office to conduct a thorough investigation into 
the increasing disparity between the prices dairy farmers receive for 
their milk, and the price retail stores charge for milk.
  In the study, GAO will focus its attention on the impact of market 
concentration in the retail, milk processing, procurement and handling 
industries and describe the potential risks of any such concentration 
for dairy farmers and federal nutrition programs.
  Specifically, we asked the GAO to identify the factors that are 
depressing the price farmers receive for their milk, and why this trend 
has persisted while retail prices continue to rise. After all, this 
trend defies economic expectations, and frustrates the aspirations of 
hardworking farmers, with no apparent benefit to consumers.
  During June Dairy Month, the dairy industry also called for mandatory 
price reporting for manufactured products. In early June, the sudden 
discovery of 24 million pounds of butter shined the spotlight on the 
need for an effective reporting system for storable dairy products .
  The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which tracks domestic butter 
stocks, discovered a new warehouse that hadn't been reporting its 
butter inventory. When this huge quantity of butter was finally 
reported, prices went down sharply, and so did the dairy industry's 
faith in the reporting system for storable dairy products.
  Wall Street would never put up with this kind of reporting errors in 
its markets, and neither should the agriculture industry.
  Regardless of where the dairy industry chooses to get its 
information, through the National Agricultural Statistics Service or 
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, that information must be accurate. 
These costly mistakes happen because the current reporting system is 
voluntary, leaving room for serious errors.
  To address this growing concern, Senator Craig and I introduced the 
Dairy Market Enhancement Act of 2000, which takes the next step toward 
fair and accurate reporting. It would mandate reporting by dairy 
product manufacturing plants, would subject that reporting to 
independent verification, and would require the USDA to ensure 
compliance with the mandatory reporting and verification requirements.
  Our bill also would direct the Commodities Futures Trading Commission 
to conduct a study on the reporting practices at the CME and report its 
findings to Congress.
  We must also ensure that America's dairy farmers are put on a level 
playing field in the world economy. As I travel to each county in 
Wisconsin, I hear a growing concern over efforts to change the natural 
cheese standard to allow dry ultra-filtered milk in natural cheese.
  Our dairy farmers have invested heavily in processes that make the 
best quality cheese ingredients, and I am concerned about recent 
efforts to change the law that would penalize them for those efforts by 
allowing lower quality ingredients to flood the U.S. market.
  Senator Jeffords and I introduced the Quality Cheese Act of 2000 to 
respond to the call of our nation's dairy farmers.
  Our legislation would disallow the use of so called ``dry'' ultra-
filtered milk--milk protein concentrate and casein--in natural cheese 
products, and require USDA to consider the impact on the producer 
before any other changes may be made to the natural cheese standard.
  I recognize that these efforts are only a step in the right 
direction.
  In addition to addressing the increased market concentration, 
enacting mandatary price reporting, and protecting the natural cheese 
standard, Congress must also provide America's dairy farmers with a 
fair and truly national dairy policy and one that puts them all on a 
level playing field, from coast to coast.

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