Congress To Compromise on Milk Prices, Avoids Dairy Cliff

While Congress can't seem to agree on a compromise to avoid the "Fiscal Cliff," leadership of the Senate agriculture committee announced a compromise on the farm bill Sunday.

The compromise will keep milk prices from skyrocketing to $6 or $8 a gallon.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow indicated that in addition to a one year extension of the Farm Bill, the House GOP is also considering two other extension bills — a one-month extension and an even smaller bill that would simply extend dairy policy that expires Jan. 1, according to the Associated Press.

Dairy subsidies under the 2008 farm bill expire on Monday and without a bill in place, prices paid by the government to farmers would revert back to higher 1949 levels, reported USA Today.

Wheat and other commodities could have be impacted later in 2013.

"If a new Farm Bill is not passed in the next few days, Agriculture Committee leaders in both chambers and both parties have developed a responsible short-term Farm Bill extension that not only stops milk prices from spiking, but also prevents eventual damage to our entire agriculture economy," said Stabenow.

"It is not perfect -- no compromise ever is -- but it is my sincere hope that it will pass the House and Senate and be signed by the President by Jan. 1," Frank Lucas, R-Okla., chair of the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement.

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) had been pushing for the Farm Bill to be included in end-of-session legislation as a way of helping drought-stricken farmers.

“Our country’s farmers and ranchers produce the highest quality, lowest cost food in the world, and they need strong farm policies to ensure they can continue providing our nation with a safe and reliable food source,” McCaskill said in a statement December 17. “These are some of the hardest workers in the United States, and it is our turn to show them Washington is fighting for rural America.” 

(Patch Local Editor Gregg Palermo contributed information for this report)