Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Dairy Budget Reconciliation and Self-Help Initiative Act of 1993, Vol. 2: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Livestock of the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session, on H. R. 2664, October 26, 1993
I have participated in a great many discussions on dairy policy Since 1990, including the 1991 dairy bill, in an attempt to improve this program, and I have concluded with a great deal of reluctance that two-tier is Simply not attainable. We can continue to push it, and maybe someday its time will come, but right now the choices are quite clear: Keep the current program, or go with some version of the self-help plan.
The question I've asked myself is, will my producers be better off if I push for a wonderful plan that cannot win, like two-tier, or if I support a plan that's maybe not as good, but that's better than where we are now, that has a chance of winning? Half a loaf a lot of times is better than none. I have concluded that some improve ment is better than none at all, even if it's not as much improve ment as I would prefer.
I do not say this to minimize the concerns that some of our wit nesses will raise today. If you truly believe that producers will be worse off under self-help than under the current program and, therefore, you oppose self-help, I cannot argue with that, although I do not agree with that analysis. But if you oppose self-help be cause you want more, I have to tell you more is not attainable.
Let me add one other point. While our discussions today, and the Department's analysis, are based on comparing self-help with the current program, we need to keep in mind that we cannot take the present program for granted. There is always the possibility, in the budget squeeze that seems to press most heavily on agriculture, that the present program may be very well put on the line in the future. I think this is an unlikely event, but what is abundantly clear is you cannot wait until you are under the axe to come up with an alternative program. The program detractors, if they smell blood, may not grant a pardon. That is all worth keeping in mind, even if you believe self-help may be a step down from the current program.
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