Congress Desperate to Avoid 'Dairy Cliff', $8 Gal Milk

Congress Desperate to Avoid 'Dairy Cliff', $8 Gal Milk

by Mike Flynn 10 Dec 2013, 12:52 PM PDT

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/12/10/Congress-Desperate-to-Avoid-Dairy-Cliff

With time running out to reauthorize a 5-year Farm Bill, sources on Capitol Hill tell Breitbart News that Congressional leaders are preparing a short-term, one-month extension to allow more time for negotiations. Congress is desperate not to let the Farm Bill expire on December 31st. If it does, a decades old law would be triggered, causing the price of a gallon of milk to spike to $8 or more a gallon.

If the Farm Bill expires, farm programs revert to permanent law, passed in 1949. That law would require the federal government to buy milk and dairy products from producers at around twice the market rate. The government would also be required to maintain that price level through additional buying. It is estimated it would cost the government $12 billion a year to support the higher milk price level.

The provision is a good reminder that subsidies and crony capitalism is not a recent phenomenon. The agriculture industry held considerably more political power last century than it does today. The legacy of their lobbying power is still felt today.

In recent years, the Farm Bill has evolved away from the traditional crop subsidies we associate with the legislation. Today, 80% of the spending in the $500 billion bill is consumed by food stamps. That program, in fact, has been the main sticking point between negotiators trying to reach a deal.

Those arcane farm programs still have power, however. No lawmaker wants to go into an election year with milk spiking to $8 a gallon and other dairy products becoming more expensive. It also means the Farm Bill, no matter how antiquated in today's market of massive agri-business corporations, will never really go away.

Farm Subsidies

farm subsidies is a program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Note: Horizon Organic Dairy is a recipient from the farm subsidies program.

Leonard A. Lauder is part-owner of the Horizon Organic Dairy, and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Committee for Economic Development.

George Soros is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

James S. Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Lester Crown was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory

http://commercialclubchicago.org/members/e.html

Please note: This link for the members of the Commercial Club of Chicago can no longer be found.

Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was the chairman & CEO for Chiquita Brands International, Inc.  

Carl H. Lindner Jr. was the chairman for Chiquita Brands International, Inc., and a co-founder for the United Dairy Farmers, Inc.

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Boeing Company.

Valerie B. Jarrett is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Newton N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

W. James McNerney Jr. is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and the chairman & president & CEO for the Boeing Company.

Barbara G. Fast was a VP at the Boeing Company, and a VP for the CGI Group Inc.

CGI Group Inc. was the Obamacare contractor that developed Healthcare.gov web site.

Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.

Donna S. Morea was the EVP for the CGI Group Inc., and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.