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Baldwin, Johnson Want Milk Trucks Exempt in Transportation Bill
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 11/24/2015

Both of Wisconsin's U.S. senators joined seven of their colleagues in calling for flexibility for America's dairy industry in the recently-passed Surface Transportation bill. In a letter sent to leaders of the House-Senate conference committee, the lawmakers said they want to see the final measure allow for bulk trucks to carry milk without being forced to offload portions of their load at state borders to meet certain weight requirements.

"Each day, more than 12,500 bulk milk trucks pick up milk at farms across the country and move it to over 2,000 processing plants. The transportation of milk is an issue that affects businesses and consumers in every region and in every state," the letter stated. "We urge you to support language that was included in the House-passed version of H.R. 22, the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act, that would classify milk as a non-divisible load."

Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson said they would like to see the language that was included in the House version be added in the Senate draft.

"Current law already permits states to issue special permits for non-divisible loads, such as trees, boats, or any other products whose integrity would be compromised through division," the bipartisan letter said. "Adding milk to the list of products that qualify as non-divisible loads would improve the safety and security of bulk milk. What's more, this provision would improve the stability of trucks loaded with fluid milk."

Other senators who signed the memo include Chris Murphy, Connecticut; Patrick Leahy, Vermont; Mike Crapo, Idaho; Al Franken, Minnesota; Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire; Jim Risch, Idaho; and Angus King, Maine. They say that by classifying milk as a non-divisible load, the provision acknowledges that milk cannot be easily divided or dismantled between farms and processing plants.


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