Federal Authorization - Congressional Consent

            The Compact was reintroduced soon after the 104^th Congress reconvened in 1995.  This time the legislation was introduced only on the Senate side.  Because the Republicans had gained control of the Senate, Senator Jeffords of Vermont became the lead sponsor.  All 12 of the New England Senators again signed on as joint co-sponsors of the legislation.

In this Congress, the Senate debate over the Compact occurred as part of the authorizing action for the 1995 Farm Bill.  While never formally reviewed in the Agriculture Committee, as the Judiciary Committee remained the formal committee of reference, the Compact was the subject of a vigorous informal review throughout the summer and fall, as part of the overall Senate and House Farm Bill debate.  The review process included a formal policy briefing on the Compact presented by three of the New England governors.[1]

The 1995 Farm Bill debate, along with the discussion over whether to authorize the Compact, culminated with the contentious budget battles at year’s end.  Rather than as stand-alone legislation, the House and Senate debated and added the Farm Bill as an amendment to the 1995 Budget Reconciliation Act.  As part of the process, Compact authorizing legislation was bundled in with certain dairy reform provisions and added as a floor amendment to the larger bill, by a vote of 65-34.[2]   This most active period of congressional Compact deliberation concluded with all the dairy provisions, including the Compact enabling legislation, being stripped out of the Farm Bill/Budget Act in conference.  The remaining Farm Bill/Budget Act was subsequently vetoed by the President, resulting in the government shut-down of 1995.

The 1995 Farm Bill was finally passed in the spring of 1996.  The bill as passed included language consenting to the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact.  Compact enabling language was added to the Senate Farm Bill that first reached the Senate Floor, then stripped out by a Floor Amendment, by a vote of 49 – 46[3].  After a vigorous conference debate, the Compact authorizing language was restored to the Farm Bill in Conference, which was adopted by both the House and Senate.  The Farm Bill, including the Compact authorizing language, was signed into law by the President in April.[4]

            Congress attached a number of conditions to its consent.  It required that before the Compact could take effect, the Secretary of Agriculture make a finding of a “compelling public interest” that the Compact was needed; it clarified expressly that the Commission, once created, could regulate prices only for fluid milk; it specified that only the Mid-Atlantic states could later join the Compact, and that their joining would require an additional act of consent by Congress; it provided for the Market Administrator to provide technical assistance; it required the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to be compensated for government purchases whenever the increased rate of milk production in the New England states exceeded the increased rate nationally; it prohibited the Commission from requiring compensatory payments to milk producers and defined other parameters for the price regulation; and it established a three year sunset for the conveyance of consent.[5]

            The condition of consent dealing with CCC purchases served two functions.  Most directly, the provision ensured a “zero score” from the Congressional Office of Budget and Management, indicating that Congress’s action had no budget implication.  The condition also responded to the concern with over-production, making manifestly clear that the Compact states rather than the federal government was responsible for any surplus production resulting from the imposition of price regulation in the Compact region.