Ron Kind: “I do not think there was a meeting of the minds as far as the compromise that is being discussed right now on the House…”

“I do not think there was a meeting of the minds as far as the compromise that is being discussed right now on the House floor; otherwise, we would not be having this debate for over 2 hours. I appreciate what the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture was attempting to do. I also appreciate the comments of the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest) about this is not the proper place to have the debate. If not now, when? Of course we need to have this debate. We need to have this discussion in front of the American people because this is very serious legislation that we are talking about. I am deeply troubled by the fact that this authorizing language is coming into the appropriations bill. This is something that, again, all the regions of the country and the representatives and the interests that are being affected by this legislation should come together at the same table and try to hammer out one coherent national dairy policy. That is not what is being done. Instead, we are going to go back to this old antiquated Federal order system that pits region against region. We are going to perpetuate that who knows when. There is a 6-month extension right now, but who knows what is going to come when that 6 months is concluded. This is an opportunity for us really to come together. I think we can all stipulate that farming and being a dairy family is a very noble, very honorable occupation.”