That's because the Milk Income Loss Contract program, known as MILC, pays dairy farmers cash when milk prices fall 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.

Source: Newsday