From Jerry Kozak, President and CEO, NMPF:

“The nation’s dairy farmers strongly oppose efforts in the House to gut the farm bill’s dairy title through an amendment offered by Reps. Goodlatte and Scott. We urge members of the House to reject this amendment, which would undo four years of hard work to develop a new, cost-effective safety net for America’s dairy farmers.

“We understand that the House leadership is pressuring members to vote in favor of the Goodlatte-Scott amendment. But if the debate on the farm bill’s dairy title is about what the best policy is for taxpayers and consumers, as well as farmers, then we have the best case to make to Congress.

“The Dairy Security Act, already approved twice by the House Agriculture Committee, and contained in the Senate-passed farm bill, creates a voluntary margin insurance program. The costs for this are shared by farmers and mitigated by the program’s market stabilization element. By eliminating the market stabilization component, the Goodlatte-Scott approach removes the cost control mechanism from this measure, greatly increasing government and taxpayer costs.