David Minge: “The Minnesota-Wisconsin, or the M-W, price for milk is a price that we all know has been the lowest in the country. We…”

“The Minnesota-Wisconsin, or the M-W, price for milk is a price that we all know has been the lowest in the country. We have discriminated against the heart of America's dairy production for decades. A Congress which we thought was going to address these grievances has abandoned the principle of equity when it comes to dairy production in America and is driving this policy backwards. I think the time has come for us to make sure that all of our colleagues in the country understand what we are being asked to accept here this afternoon. I would also like to address another aspect of this bill, and that is the emergency or the disaster assistance portion of the legislation. I also expect that most of us are now well aware that we have a combination of a crop production failure or yield failure, and a price collapse that is affecting much of American agriculture. Those crops that are hardest hit are wheat, corn, and oilseeds, particularly soybeans. Hog prices and cattle prices are also very low. It is important that we take responsive measures to deal with this price collapse and the yield problems, and this bill does make a good start in that direction.”