That is completely unsatisfactory, at the very time the Secretary of Agriculture has put a process into effect to examine and reform this system. That reform process is not enough for many of us, but we appreciate it as a positive step, moving forward. Now that reform process will be postponed for an additional 6 months under the provision of this legislative rider, which in addition has the effect of extending for 6 months the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact, another policy which has a discriminatory effect upon dairy producers and the dairy industry of the upper Midwest. So, as a Senator from Minnesota, I cannot in good conscience support an appropriations bill that will not provide the needed assistance to family farmers in rural communities in my State. It would amount to betrayal.
People are in desperate shape.
They work there, they live there, it is everything that they have ever worked for. Nobody can say we are talking about a group of citizens who do not work hard, but this just seems beyond their control. Now we have an appropriations bill that does not deal with the price crisis, that does not get enough relief out there, that is not going to enable these people to stay on the farms. It does not do the job. I think family farmers in rural America know that.