Wisconsin Ag Connection - Kohl & Feingold Vote for Senate Farm Bill Veto Override

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Kohl & Feingold Vote for Senate Farm Bill Veto Override
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 05/23/2008

Although both of Wisconsin's two U.S. Senators feel it has its flaws, Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold voted to override President Bush's veto of the bipartisan Farm Bill on Thursday. Kohl says he supports the legislation for its provisions to extend and strengthen the safety net for dairy producers, allow interstate commerce of state-inspected meat products, and implement much-needed reforms to the federal food stamp program and other key nutrition initiatives.

"The Farm Bill is not perfect, but it includes meaningful measures to strengthen the family farms and small businesses that give life to our rural communities. Congress is on record with overwhelming bipartisan support for this bill, and I'm pleased that the Senate protected the measure from the President's veto." Kohl said.

Feingold was less enthusiastic about the farm bill when first approving it last week--saying he was disappointed that the measure did not include more reforms, but he also supported it because of provisions he thought would help Wisconsin farmers.

"I have mixed feelings about it," the Middleton Democrat said, noting that the bill would increase funding for dairy farmers if prices go below a certain level.

Specifically, the measure extends by five years the Milk Income Loss Contract program and the payment rate for dairy farmers would be restored to its original level of 45 percent from its current level of 34 percent. In addition, the Farm Bill adds a new feature to the MILC program known as the 'feed cost adjuster,' which would factor in feed costs when triggering payments for farmers. Another provision would increase the per farm cap on eligible production to 2.985 million pounds from 2.4 million pounds. The increase would allow dairy farms of about 165 cows to be fully covered compared 120 cows under current law. For Wisconsin, that means about 92 percent of all dairy operations in the state would be fully covered.

The Farm Bill also includes a provision to allow interstate sales of state-inspected meat products. Wisconsin has more state-inspected plants run by main street entrepreneurs than any other state in the nation. At a time of further proposed market concentration among major slaughter houses, this legislation will encourage smaller entrepreneurs to safely expand their markets and compete across state borders. Doing so will benefit livestock producers, consumers, and main street businesses.

And the bill's nutrition title incorporates urgently needed updates to the food stamp program, to be known hereafter as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Over the years low income households have suffered erosion of benefits due to inflation.

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