Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Ms. DelBENE. Thank you, Mr. Peterson.

I rise in strong opposition to the Goodlatte-Scott amendment which would create unnecessary market volatility and uncertainty for our farmers. The Dairy Security Act creates a new, voluntary insurance program and will help consumers by eliminating the price spikes that are common today, ensuring stable milk prices.

There has been a great deal of misinformation about how the Dairy Security Act would affect consumers, but researchers like Dr. Brown at the University of Missouri, estimated milk prices will only rise between one-half of 1 cent to a few cents per gallon. The current volatility in the market is far more harmful to consumers than that very slight increase.

Simply put, it is poor policy to commit funds to a dairy program without fixing the underlying problem of oversupply, which is what this amendment would do. An insurance-only model poorly addresses the symptom of low margins and completely misses the issues of supply and demand. The stabilization program also has safeguards that will protect the U.S. export market, which is critical for dairy producers.

In my district, I've had long conversations with local dairy farmers, been to their farms, and the sentiment is unanimous: dairy farmers oppose this amendment because it will hurt them and consumers. I urge my colleagues to follow their advice and vote ``no.''

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