Specter Speaks on Ag

Chris Torres
Staff Writer

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s senior U.S. Senator Arlen Specter is confident that a dairy bill that would overhaul the way milk is priced will eventually pass. But only if it’s included in other congressional funding.

Specter, a Democrat, sat down for a pre-Farm Show talk last Friday with members of the ag press at the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. The “Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act of 2009” has a “pretty good chance” of eventually getting passed, he said.

But not by itself. He said if the bill is eventually passed, it will probably be part of the next ag appropriations bill. The current fiscal year 2010 bill was passed at the end of September. The bill included $350 million in help for dairy farmers, including $290 million in direct payments to farmers.

Specter’s bill, which has been co-sponsored by Pennsylvania’s other U.S. Senator, Robert Casey (D), and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I), would change the way milk is priced by basing it on the average national cost of production.

He warned, however, that a tough budget battle is brewing that could put the measure in jeopardy.

“We’re fighting a tough budget right now. What we ultimately want to try to do is try to get it in the ag appropriations bill,” Specter said.

The USDA last week named members of a 17-member Dairy Advisory Committee, including two members from Pennsylvania.

On whether the committee will have any significant impact on dairy policy, Specter said it will depend on the cooperation between its members and what ideas come out of the committee. Typically, though, he said similar committees have had little if any impact on new legislation.

According to the USDA, the committee was formed to provide dairy policy suggestions and advice to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Specter also took some time to provide some insight on the Chesapeake Bay and immigration issues.

He said he would not support Sen. Ben Cardin’s (D-Md.) bill that would reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Program and also provide more money to clean up the bay by 2020.

Specter said the bill adds another layer of regulation that he does not support. The executive director of Specter’s southeast Pennsylvania office, Michael Oscar, went even further, stating that Pennsylvania would absorb most of the costs related to cleaning up the bay, among other things.

Healthcare may have trumped the immigration debate as of late, but the issue has been brought up again with several bills recently introduced in Congress.

Specter said he would only support a bill that makes a clear distinction between undocumented workers and illegal immigrants and would provide practical ways of dealing with the issue.

“I want a bill that brings the people out of the shadows. You need it for food. If you don’t have immigrants, you wouldn’t have anyone taking care of the farms,” he said.