Got Milk? Congress Ponders Plan To Cartelize Your Glass Of Moo.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(NATIONAL ISSUE)

Byline: Sean Higgins

The word "cartel" doesn't often conjure up images of New England dairy farmers and their cows. But to a bipartisan chorus of critics in Congress, the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact is exactly that -- a price-fixing cartel that hurts consumers and other dairy producers.

The compact's congressional authorization expires Sept. 30. Foes want to let it die, but fans say the compact has stabilized prices, saved local farms and preserved open space. They're fighting to extend the compact, maybe even make it a national model for the dairy business.

A pending Senate bill would keep the compact alive. It would also add six states to the deal and authorize three more regional dairy compacts. The four compacts could then control milk prices in 35 states.

It's an idea on the move, and it might not stop with milk.

"If we approve an expanded compact for dairy, what is to stop us from approving price-fixing cartels anywhere else in our economy?" asked Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis., a leading critic of the compact, in a recent hearing.

The federal government has regulated milk prices since 1937, originally to maintain "orderly marketing conditions." Today, the Agriculture Department sets minimum milk prices for the whole country.