Yes, the East Coast versus West Coast rivalry continues. Though not in any sports, or hip-hop sort of way, but rather, the argument this time is over dairy subsidies and the recent agreement reached on the Agriculture Appropriations bill.Just when we thought the dairy support issue in the Agriculture Appropriations bill was over due to an agreement that would provide $350 million to dairy farmers, another problem arises. The problem that still remains is how, exactly, to spend that money. When it comes to Congress, fighting over how to spend money could take some time.
As the Associated Press’s Henry C. Jackson writes, Eastern lawmakers want to use the current system, which would tend to reward smaller-producers that populate their region, while Western lawmakers would like a different method employed so that the larger operations in their states could also qualify for some assistance. The current system pays farmers when prices drop, but it caps benefits “after they produce 3 million pounds of milk.” Naturally, Western lawmakers don’t like this method because 3 million pounds of milk, as this blog reported on September 30, 2009, is the equivalent of roughly 200 cows. This would essentially disqualify large operations very quickly.
“Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she was requesting an urgent meeting with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to discuss the matter and promised to object to any vote on a larger agriculture bill before she met with Vilsack.” Basically, the California senator thinks the proposal would discriminate against dairy operations in her state. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has not commented on how it will spend the $290 million that does not have guidelines attached by Congress as to how it should be spent. Meanwhile, the other $60 million will be spent to purchase excess dairy commodities to be used in various national food programs.
So, basically, the problem now is over senators wanting to do right by their constituents. The big concern Eastern lawmakers have is that the money may be distributed on a per cow basis. This would obviously be an advantage to Western operations as they tend to be much larger than their Eastern counterparts.
While Senator Boxer’s threat is real and still remains, it appears as though the fiscal year 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill, totaling roughly $23.3 billion, is ready for a vote—minus a few details.
To read the AP article click here.
Posted: 10/02/09
