Bipartisan Senate Coalition Declares Opposition
To Bush Budget’s Milk Tax And Other Hits On Dairy Farmers

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, March 8) -- With Agriculture Secretary Michael Johannes set to testify in the Senate Thursday on the Bush Administration’s agriculture budget requests for Fiscal Year 2007, 17 senators Wednesday declared their strong opposition to the milk tax and other hits on dairy farmers proposed in the President’s budget.

Sixteen senators, including Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), joined Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in a letter to the Senate Budget Committee, urging the panel’s rejection of the milk tax, a proposed 5 percent cut in the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program, and changes in the dairy price support program that would weaken its effectiveness and its value to dairy farmers.  The Leahy-led letter was sent to Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and Ranking Member Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

Secretary Johannes will testify Thursday before the Agriculture Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The text of the letter follows (a PDF is also available):

March 8, 2006

The Honorable Judd Gregg, Chairman
The Honorable Kent Conrad, Ranking Member
Committee on Budget
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

 Dear Chairman Gregg and Ranking Member Conrad:

We are writing to urge you to oppose the Administration’s budget proposals for our nation’s dairy producers.  While the Administration has targeted agriculture programs for much greater cuts than many other government expenditures, hardworking dairy farmers are targeted for even deeper cuts.

The President’s budget targets dairy farmers’ income in three ways: by reducing the value of the price support program; cutting Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) payments by 5 percent; and taxing every dairy farmer in America 3 cents per cwt. on all of their production.  There is no fair or justifiable reason to single out dairy farmers for such drastic programmatic cuts and tax increases. 

Though the Administration claims these cuts and tax increases are needed to recover the cost of dairy programs, the MILC program and the dairy price support program cost the government little or nothing to operate in 2005.  These proposals amount to unfair taxation, not cost recovery for dairy programs.

Furthermore the President’s plan to impose a new tax on every dairy producer in this country is not only at odds with the Administration’s efforts to extend and expand earlier tax cuts, but it comes at a time when dairy producers are already burdened by high fuel and utility costs, and declining prices.  Budgeting for additional tax cuts for some while raising taxes on hard-working family dairy farmers is doubly inexcusable. 

 We strongly urge you to reject the Administration’s proposed budget cuts and tax increases on America’s dairy farmers. 

Sincerely,

Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)
Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.)
Norm Coleman (R-Minn.)
Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.)
Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.)
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.)
Jack Reed (D-R.I.)
Mark Dayton (D-Minn.)
Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Carl Levin (D-Mich.)
John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Joe Biden (D-Del.)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)