Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) spoke on the House floor on the urgent need to support our North Country dairy farmers who are struggling right now. Congresswoman Stefanik recently supported passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act that included several reforms to help our North Country dairy farmers, and also hosted a dairy roundtable at Jefferson Community College. Click here for video of the Congresswoman’s floor remarks; a transcript is below.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to the urgent crisis facing dairy farmers across my district.
The low price of milk, labor shortages and dwindling access to new markets are just some of the many challenges faced by the hardworking family farms in my district.
Additionally, the Margin Protection Program has failed North Country dairy farmers by providing little-to-no return on our farmers’ buy-in.
Recently I was pleased to support the Bipartisan Budget Act, which contained many urgent reforms to this program, such as:
Raising catastrophic coverage for the first tier of covered production for all farmers;
Reducing premium rates to help farmers buy coverage;
And waiving costly administrative fees for underserved farms.
Agriculture is truly the backbone of our North Country economy, and generations of farmers have helped make dairy production a way of life for many families that I represent.
In Congress, I’ll keep fighting every day to strengthen our family farms for future generations.
Thank you, and I yield back.
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