WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Kohl today introduced legislation to extend the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program with the bipartisan support of nearly one-third of the Senate behind his bill. Moreover, Kohl has lined up support from Senators in regions that have historically feuded over national dairy policy, including New Englanders and Southerners. Kohl's bill would extend the MILC program, a countercyclical program that serves as a safety net to dairy farmers when milk prices plummet, for two years to coincide with the duration of other Farm Bill programs. The program provided $414 million to Wisconsin dairy farmers when milk prices dropped to record lows over the past three years. Kohl has been fighting to extend the program, which expires in September, and gained a pledge of support from President George W. Bush in his remarks during a campaign visit to Wausau last year. The President submits his budget to Congress on Monday, and Kohl is hopeful that the MILC extension will be included.

"We have come a long way in a short time from the painful battles over national dairy policy that pit one group of dairymen against another," Kohl said. "As the Senate's wide bipartisan support of this bill shows, the MILC program has been a remarkable success. Now we need the President's continued support and determination to persuade the House of Representatives, which blocked the program last year, to follow suit."

Kohl helped establish the MILC program to end regional fighting over federal milk pricing policies and as an alternative to the Northeast Dairy Compact he helped defeat. The program was included in the 2002 Farm Bill, however without an extension the MILC program expires two years before other farm support programs, leaving family-sized dairy operations without a meaningful safety net.

In addition to the 28 original Senate sponsors of the bill, the MILC extension is supported by sixteen governors including the governors of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Virginia, Vermont, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Maine, Iowa, Michigan, New York, South Dakota, Ohio, Louisiana and North Dakota.

Kohl has already discussed the need to extend the MILC program with the new Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, and members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, on which Kohl serves.

Kohl said he is hopeful that the President's budget will include the MILC extension when it is submitted to Congress on Monday, but noted that the budget resolution is only a framework for further discussion. It will take continued effort from both Congress and the Administration to see that the extension is translated into law.

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