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Editorial -- White House's dairy proposal isn't smart or good Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Minnesota senators Mark Dayton and Norm Coleman have their hands full in Washington these days.
Dayton, who opposes the DM&E's plans to run coal trains through Rochester, stumbled a bit recently when he disparaged South Dakota's reputation by saying that Mayo Clinic is worth more than the whole of South Dakota. Outside of riling up South Dakota lawmakers and former lawmakers, Dayton's gaffe caused no real harm.
The same can't be said for the Bush administration's current plans to hammer dairy producers with a new tax and reduced support when it appears the milk market is headed in the wrong direction.
To their credit, Dayton -- who isn't running for re-election -- and Coleman -- who is being mentioned as vice presidential timber and who may even have presidential ambitions, have joined with Wisconsin's two senators in calling for the Senate to reject Bush's plans to cut two support programs and implement a foolish tax.
To backtrack, the White House specifically wants to cut Milk Income Loss Contract program payments by 5 percent and at the same time institute a 3-cent tax per hundredweight of milk. It seems the Bush administration's timing is incredibly bad when it comes to dairy policy. It certainly runs against the grain when it comes to Bush's stated goal of cutting taxes.
"There is no fair or justifiable reason to single out dairy farmers for such drastic program cuts and tax increases,'' the 17 senators wrote in their letter to the White House.
The White House points out that crop subsidies would also be cut 5 percent in their proposal, but it seems much more difficult for them to justify its dairy plans.
The dairy industry has indeed rebounded in the past couple of years. Some of that is credited to Cooperatives Working Together, who have used a self-help program to decrease production and keep milk prices higher than they otherwise might be. CWT is an excellent model that could perhaps be used by other commodity groups. However, the self-funded program is likely to become more costly as it continues.
There is general uneasiness among dairy producers, particularly family farm-owned operations. Expansion continues in nontraditional dairy areas and more imports are coming into the country.
The Bush administration's attack on dairy producers is both ill-conceived and ill-timed and should be quashed by the Senate. |
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