II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2706

To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to establish a program

to provide dairy farmers a price safety net for small- and mediumsized dairy producers.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 8, 2000

Mr. SANTORUM (for himself and Mr. KOHL) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to establish a program to provide dairy farmers a price safety

net for small- and medium-sized dairy producers.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Dairy Farm5 ers Fairness Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) dairy farm families of the United States are

9 enduring an unprecedented financial crisis;
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•S 2706 IS

1 (2) the price of raw milk sent to the market by

2 the dairy farm families has fallen to the levels re3 ceived in 1978; and

4 (3) the number of family-sized dairy operations

5 has decreased by almost 75 percent in the last 2

6 decades, with some States losing nearly 10 percent

7 of their dairy farmers in recent months.

8 SEC. 3. DAIRY FARMERS PROGRAM.

9 Chapter 1 of subtitle D of the Agricultural Market

10 Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7251 et seq.) is amended by add11 ing at the end the following:

12 ‘‘SEC. 153. DAIRY FARMERS PROGRAM.

13 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

14 ‘‘(1) APPLICABLE FISCAL YEAR.—The term ‘ap15 plicable fiscal year’ means each of fiscal years 2001

16 and 2002.

17 ‘‘(2) CLASS III MILK.—The term ‘Class III

18 milk’ means milk classified as Class III milk under

19 a Federal milk marketing order issued under section

20 8c of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C.

21 608c), reenacted with amendments by the Agricul22 tural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937.

23 ‘‘(b) PAYMENTS.—For each applicable fiscal year, the

24 Secretary shall make a payment to producers on a farm
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1 that, during the applicable fiscal year, produced milk for

2 commercial sale, in the amount obtained by multiplying—

3 ‘‘(1) the payment rate for the applicable fiscal

4 year determined under subsection (c); by

5 ‘‘(2) the payment quantity for the applicable

6 fiscal year determined under subsection (d).

7 ‘‘(c) PAYMENT RATE.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

9 the payment rate for a payment made to producers

10 on a farm for an applicable fiscal year under sub11 section (b) shall be determined as follows:

‘‘If the average price received

by producers in the

United States for Class

III milk during the preceding fiscal year was

(per hundredweight)—

The payment rate for a payment made to producers on

a farm for the applicable

fiscal year under subsection

(b) shall be (per hundredweight)—

$10.50 or less ........................................................................... .50

$10.51 through $11.00 ............................................................ .42

$11.01 through $11.50 ............................................................ .34

$11.51 through $12.00 ............................................................ .26

$12.01 through $12.50 ............................................................ .18.

12 ‘‘(2) INCREASED PAYMENT RATE.—If the pro13 ducers on a farm produce during an applicable fiscal

14 year a quantity of all milk that is not more than the

15 quantity of all milk produced by the producers on

16 the farm during the preceding fiscal year, the pay17 ment rate for a payment to the producers on the

18 farm for the applicable fiscal year under paragraph

19 (1) shall be increased as follows:
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‘‘If the average price received

by producers in the

United States for Class

III milk during the preceding fiscal year was

(per hundredweight)—

The payment rate for a payment made to the producers

on the farm for the applicable fiscal year under paragraph (1) shall be increased

by (per hundredweight)—

$10.50 or less ........................................................................... .30

$10.51 through $11.00 ............................................................ .26

$11.01 through $11.50 ............................................................ .22

$11.51 through $12.00 ............................................................ .18

$12.01 through $12.50 ............................................................ .14.

1 ‘‘(d) PAYMENT QUANTITY.—

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

3 the quantity of all milk for which the producers on

4 a farm shall receive a payment for an applicable fis5 cal year under subsection (b) shall be equal to the

6 quantity of all milk produced by the producers on

7 the farm during the applicable fiscal year.

8 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM QUANTITY.—The quantity of all

9 milk for which the producers on a farm shall receive

10 a payment for an applicable year under subsection

11 (b) shall not exceed 26,000 hundredweight of all

12 milk.

13 ‘‘(e) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION.—The Sec14 retary shall carry out the program authorized by this sec15 tion through the Commodity Credit Corporation.’’.

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