Jeff Bingaman: “I start by thanking Senator Harkin for his hard work on this farm bill. I know he has a difficult task pulling people…”

“I start by thanking Senator Harkin for his hard work on this farm bill. I know he has a difficult task pulling people together to craft a bill. As chairman of the committee, he and his staff need to be complimented for the fine work they have done on the bill. It is important legislation for farmers in New Mexico, and I hope the Senate can move ahead to complete action on the farm bill. The bill has several provisions important to my State. I thank the chairman for working with me on those. I also thank Senator Harkin for the strong efforts he has made to improve the conservation programs in the bill which are particularly important to my State. However, all that being true, I wish to express a serious concern about the dairy provisions in the bill. As I understand it, the substitute bill creates a totally new dairy program. I believe the new dairy scheme in the bill is wrong for the Nation's dairy farmers and wrong for consumers as well. That is why I support Senator Crapo's amendment to strike this provision and to instead have a study to determine which, if any, of the proposals that are currently floating in the Senate ought to be considered in the future.”