OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food And Drug Administration, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Statement

Date: July 8, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Agriculture and Food Drugs

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Mr. WELCH. We appreciate the gentlewoman's hard work on the Agriculture appropriations spending bill. As you know, dairy farmers are currently being paid $11 per hundredweight on milk that costs them $18 per hundredweight to produce. This upside-down pay scale is absolutely unsustainable. It has already forced dozens of Vermont farmers out of business.

We unsuccessfully offered an amendment to the bill to raise the payment rates on the Milk Income Loss Contract program from 45 percent to 79 percent. While the MILC program isn't perfect, it is really a way to put money back in the pocket of farmers.

We appreciate your support, and we believe that you agree that Congress must take action to help our struggling dairy farmers and we cannot wait for more farms to go out of business.

I thank the chairwoman and look forward to continuing to work with her and my colleague from Connecticut.

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