Tax advocates and consumer watchdog groups are demanding the congressional “Super Committee” not add a Dairy Market Stabilization Program as part of its proposed deficit reduction bill. As part of the debt limit increase passed in August, a 12 person so called “super committee” was created to find an additional $1.2 trillion in spending cuts or face drastic across the board spending cuts to entitlements and defense.
A provision proposed for the deficit reduction bill would be a Dairy Market Stabilization Program. This program would give the government the authority to limit the production of milk in order to artificially inflate dairy prices. The controls would kick in whenever profit margins go below a certain level. Although the measures are intended to keep milk prices high and act as a subsidy to dairy farmers, advocacy groups on both the right and left are crying foul.
Conservative tax advocacy groups like the Americans for Tax Reform, National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste all point out that if dairy prices increase social service programs nationwide would feel the pinch. Programs like food stamps would see demand increase as families feel the pinch of higher dairy prices. The liberal consumer advocacy group Consumer Federation of America sees it differently but opposes the proposal none the less. The CFA wrote to leaders of both the House and Senate that “The Dairy Market Stabilization Program is specifically designed to increase milk prices.” The CFA went on to warn congress that “As milk and dairy prices increase, low-income consumers are hit especially hard, since they spend a higher percentage of their income on food than other consumers.”
According to research cited by the CFA, there is a direct inverse correlation between the price of milk and it’s consumption. The CFA fears that if the consumption of milk decreases it could lead to calcium deficiencies especially among children and women reaching menopause.