WASHINGTON (AP) – Taxpayers would fork over more money for a dairy support program under the Senate version of the farm bill – but they could help offset that by drinking more milk.
That's because the Milk Income Loss Contract program, known as MILC, pays dairy farmers cash when milk prices fell below certain levels.,”Senate seeks big increase in dairy support program
WASHINGTON (AP) – Taxpayers would fork over more money for a dairy support program under the Senate version of the farm bill – but they could help offset that by drinking more milk.
That's because the Milk Income Loss Contract program, known as MILC, pays dairy farmers cash when milk prices fell below certain levels. When demand is up, prices tend to be up, too.
The program, aimed at helping small and midsize dairy farmers weather low prices, is currently limited to the first 2.4 million pounds of milk per year, which translates to about a 120-cow farm. The Senate farm bill raises that cap to 4.15 million pounds, or roughly 200 cows.
The legislation also increases the size of payment farmers receive when prices fall below a baseline level – from 34 percent of the difference to 45 percent of the difference – restoring it to a level it had been a couple of years ago.
A watchdog group called the program funded by taxpayer dollars a waste of money.
"We're supporting industries that shouldn't necessarily be operating if they can't sell their milk at market prices," said Demian Moore, a senior policy analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense. "It's time to figure out another way to do things."
The Bush administration threatened a veto of the overall bill Monday, saying it doesn't do enough to cut farm subsidies and would threaten World Trade Organization negotiations.
Medical examiner: First worker into pit was landfill co-owner
SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) – The first worker overcome by toxic fumes in a landfill manhole was one of the owners of the business, the Douglas County medical examiner said Monday. Four workers were found dead in the pit last Thursday.
Medical Examiner Darrell Witt said Joe Kimmes III, 44, went into the hole 3-feet in diameter and at least a dozen feet deep at the landfill his family owned to tighten something because a pump had malfunctioned.
Scott Kimmes, 40, noticed his brother gasping for air and went down to help, Witt said.
"They were both yelling that they needed to get out and were breathing very heavily," Witt said. Harold Tim Olson, a 47-year-old employee at the landfill, then entered the manhole to help.
Paul Cossalter, a 41-year-old electrical contractor, urged someone to call 911 and then he went into the manhole before succumbing to the fumes too, Witt said.
The level of deadly hydrogen sulfide fumes inside the pit was so high it would have immediately knocked each worker unconscious, experts said.
"They had all been down there at least 20 minutes before the first responders got there," Witt said.
House Judiciary panel head tells White House to answer subpoenas to presidential aides
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats threatened Monday to hold President Bush's key confidants in contempt of Congress unless they comply with subpoenas for information on the Justice Department's purge of federal prosecutors last winter.
The White House shrugged off the ultimatum, saying the information is off-limits under executive privilege and that the aides in question – White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former presidential counselor Harriet Miers – are immune from prosecution.
"It won't go anywhere," predicted White House press secretary Dana Perino.
Congressional Democrats nonetheless submitted their 102-page report, and a Republican rebuttal, to the House clerk on Monday afternoon. The report accused Miers of contempt for failing to appear and testify as subpoenaed. She and Bolten were charged with failing to produce documents on whether the prosecutors were fired at the White House's behest.
Also in the sights of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich.: Karl Rove, the architect of Bush's rise to the White House and a top political adviser who left last summer.
Police in Pakistan clash with lawyers protesting emergency; opposition reports 3,500 arrests
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) – Police on Monday fired tear gas and clubbed lawyers protesting against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule. The U.S. and other nations called for elections to be held on schedule and said they were reviewing aid to Pakistan.
In the largest protest in the eastern city of Lahore, lawyers dressed in black suits and ties chanted "Musharraf Go!" as they defied the government's ban on rallies. Some fought back with stones and tree branches.
The crackdown mainly targeted Musharraf's most potent critics – the judiciary and lawyers, independent television stations and opposition activists. Opposition groups said 3,500 had been arrested, though the government reported half that total.
President Bush urged Musharraf to hold parliamentary elections as scheduled in January and relinquish his army post as soon as possible. "Our hope is that he will restore democracy as quickly as possible," Bush said.
But there did not appear to be a unified position among senior government officials on whether they planned to hold the election as planned. The attorney general said the vote would take place as scheduled but then conceded there was a chance of a delay. The prime minister also left open the possibility of a delay.
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