"The farm bill passed today by the House of Representatives is seriously flawed, in that it contains the Goodlatte-Scott dairy amendment, as well as a repeal of permanent agricultural law. Neither of these measures serves the best long-term interests of dairy farmers. The Senate, by contrast, overwhelmingly passed the complete Dairy Security Act, which the National Milk Producers Federation and nearly all dairy farmers enthusiastically supported."Nevertheless, today's action means that there is still hope that a new farm bill can be passed in 2013. Without any progress toward a Senate-House conference committee, we were looking at yet another one-year extension of current programs, which is unacceptable. Today's vote means that agricultural leaders now can work on improving the House bill and developing better dairy policy than what exists now, and what is contained in this House bill.
"The bill today is not the end of the process, but rather a means to a better end that we will continue working with lawmakers to achieve. NMPF appreciates all the efforts put forth by Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN) to try to move a 5-year farm bill through the House of Representatives by bipartisan means last month. We are committed to working with these two champions for agriculture through the conference process in the coming weeks. We urge the conference committee to include the Dairy Security Act."
7.11.2013