[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14586-14587]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            COMPACT DIVISIVENESS COULD DAMAGE DAIRY INDUSTRY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ferguson). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Sweeney) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. SWEENEY. Mr. Speaker, recently, the Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin-
based national dairy farm magazine, Hoard's Dairyman, on its editorial 
page, expressed its support for the continuation of the Northeast Dairy 
Compact and allowing other regions of the country to form their own 
compacts. As a representative of a Congressional District with a large 
dairy producing population, and as a strong advocate of States' rights, 
I implore my fellow Members to keep an open mind on the complex 
interstate dairy compact issues.
  I would like to read this thought-provoking editorial from the 
prestigious dairy magazine from the heart of dairy country, Wisconsin.
  ``Editorial comment: Compact Divisiveness Could Damage Our Industry. 
Hoard's Dairyman. Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. July 2001.
  ``Dairy compacts, in the eyes of their proponents, help stabilize and 
boost dairy farmer incomes by flooring Class I prices. Opponents see 
compacts as an unconstitutional restraint of commerce, a rip-off of 
consumers and processors, and distortion of supply and demand. We see 
the compact ``cup'' as being half full rather than half empty. That is 
why we support continuation and extension of the compact concept. We do 
so for the same reasons we work together to improve and stabilize their 
incomes.
  ``To us, compact pricing is of little difference to the overorder 
Class I premiums negotiated across the country by the dozen or more 
groups of dairy co-ops working together. Compacts are different in that 
they are not voluntary. Rebel processors and producers

[[Page 14587]]

cannot circumvent the system by undercutting established prices. And 
unlike marketing federation boards, compact commissions represent 
consumers, processors, as well as producers.
  ``The Northeast Dairy Compact has improved incomes for dairy farm 
families, without hurting milk consumption or adding to price support 
costs. There is even a provision for leaving food programs, such as 
Women, Infants, and Children programs, unaffected by higher milk 
prices. Nor has the Northeast Compact contributed to lower Class III 
prices, as many in the upper Midwest contend. We see no reason to 
prevent dairy farmers in the South or other regions from working 
together the same way.
  ``Our biggest fear about compacts is that the issue will further 
divide the industry that needs cohesion more than ever. Unless cooler 
heads prevail, we will shoot ourselves in the foot over compacts just 
as we have on many other issues.''
  Mr. Speaker, it is a myth that upper Midwest farmers oppose dairy 
compacts. I urge my colleagues to pay attention to the growing support 
from across the country for dairy compacts. I look forward to working 
with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle from all States to 
advance this important legislation.

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