Providing For Consideration of H.R. 5212, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations For Hurricane Disasters Assistance Act, 2005
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5212, EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR HURRICANE DISASTERS ASSISTANCE ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - October 06, 2004)
Mr. PUTNAM. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 819 and ask for its immediate consideration.
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Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time.
Mr. Speaker, it is too bad we are here under these conditions tonight, because the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) tried to bring out a bill which would have met all of the problems all of the parts of the country face. Unfortunately, the gang that cannot shoot straight has called for other ways to deal with the problem, and so we are dealing with only half a bill.
I want to make one point: that I speak not as the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Appropriations, but simply as a Member of Congress from Wisconsin.
One of the deficiencies with this rule is that it does not allow for an amendment to extend the Milk Income Loss Contract program. Now, that program was authorized in the 2002 farm bill. It is currently scheduled to expire next year, while other commodity programs run through the end of the farm bill, September of 2007.
In my view, dairy farmers ought to be treated under the milk program in exactly the same way that farmers of other major commodities are treated under the farm bill. If Congress fails to extend the milk program through to the end of the farm bill, then dairy farmers across the country will be at a disadvantage when Congress prepares a new authorization in 2007. That is because, under existing budget rules, there will be no budget score for milk, and only the milk price program will appear in the budget baseline. That means the budget baseline for dairy price safety programs will be deceptively low, about $800 million below where it needs to be in order to ensure that dairy farmers are not treated less equitably than they are treated today.
I do not think this Congress ought to allow that to happen, but unfortunately, we are not going to be allowed to try to correct the problem by the rule which is being adopted tonight.
The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam) I notice indicated that the farm bill ought to be used to help farmers. There is one way the Committee on Rules could have done it. They could have helped dairy farmers across the country, but they chose not to do so. I regret that, which is one of many reasons I will be voting against this rule.
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