It never goes away

Ever have a relative at the Thanksgiving dinner that doesn't know when it's time to leave?  That sticks around forever.  Well, a legislative version of The Man Who Came to Dinner is rearing its head now.

With time running out to reauthorize a 5-year Farm Bill, sources on Capitol Hill tell Breitbart News that Congressional leaders are preparing a short-term, one-month extension to allow more time for negotiations. Congress is desperate not to let the Farm Bill expire on December 31st. If it does, a decades old law would be triggered, causing the price of a gallon of milk to spike to $8 or more a gallon.

If the Farm Bill expires, farm programs revert to permanent law, passed in 1949. That law would require the federal government to buy milk and dairy products from producers at around twice the market rate. The government would also be required to maintain that price level through additional buying. It is estimated it would cost the government $12 billion a year to support the higher milk price level.

Did that say 1949?  Yep.

Rather than have to deal with a "farm bill", why doesn't someone in Congress with some common sense just put a stake through the heart of that old legislation and get it off the books, once and for all?  But no - it's all a political game, tying the price of milk to other desired outcomes in one large complex bill.

Personally, I'd be happy if milk prices went to $8 a gallon.  If nothing else, it could show the folly of having our federal government in the business of business.

H/T to Big Government at Breitbart.