Political Quotes

“I rise today to join Senator Specter of Pennsylvania in support of the Dairy Consumers and Producers Protection Act of 2001. We are joined by 37 of our colleagues from New England and throughout the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. This legislation reauthorizes the very successful Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact which allows the producers of milk to, as a dairy farmer from York Country, ME, recently said, set a little higher bottom for the price of locally produced fresh milk. The current Compact only adds a small incremental cost to the current Federal milk marketing order system that already sets a floor price for fluid milk in New England. The bill also gives approval for States contiguous to the participating New England States to join, in this case, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The legislation also grants Congressional approval for a new Southern Dairy Compact, made up of 14 States: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. This issue is really a State rights issue more than anything else, Mr. President, as the only action the Senate needs to take is to give its congressional consent under the Compact Clause of the United States Constitution, Article I, section 10, clause 3, to allow the 25 States to proceed with their two independent compacts.”