congressional leaders came to a last-minute deal preventing prices of milk from doubling to nearly $8 a gallon. joining us right now with her reaction is farm owner and board member of the united dairy industry association, audrey donahue. you do not have to work the farm today, but you are relieved. yes, we re very relieved. i too, am a consumer. i have to go into the grocery store and purchase milk and dairy products. as a dairy farmer, i was very concerned cause we certainly don t want consumers to not continue to buy dairy and dairy products. at that he is a very important part of a diet. we need to have three servings of dairy a at this in everybody s diet. it s very important for our children as well. steve: so why was it going to go up to 8 bucks a gallon? what was going to happen, it was going to go back to some laws that we had in the late 40s which was based on what it cost to produce it. so without having that farm bill go through, that s what we would have done. we d
right there as you can see. still down below 13,000, though, after heavy losses last week. very light trading also as you might imagine on this day before the market is closed for the new year s holiday. while congress cannot seem to agree on a fiscal cliff fix, it looks like a deal has been reached to keep your milk prices from skyrocketing. both the house and senate agriculture committees have agreed to a one year extension on the farm bill which expired earlier this year. the extension must be passed by a full vote in congress before it can take effect. had a deal not been reached by tonight the government would have been forced to buy milk at inflated prices, raising the doss of milk and other dairy products for consumers could have been 8 bucks a gallon, believe it or not. heather: secretary of state hillary clinton is now hospitalized after doctors discovered a blood clot during a recent follow-up exam stemming from a concussion earlier this month. david lee miller is joining us
the hit rescue me she died on wednesday from complications after a recent heart attack. she was 72 years old. many judge from the ex factor panel last year. brittany spears could be getting the boot. she didn t bring in enough ratings for her $15 million contract. plate back has been getting much clay at the theert only pulled in 264 bucks. 264 at the box office? wow. making it the worst performing movie of the year. if you do the math with tickets at 8 bucks only 33 people went to see it. it was only playing at one theater that s what the new york post is claiming. amazing. the time is 40 minutes after the top of the hour. taxes may not be the only thing going up in the new year from your cell phone to food prices
ahead. philadelphia, again, moderate delays. same for you in chicago and portland and we ll keep you posted all of the travel and the weather delays that are out there. back to you. steve: thank you very much. i think it s interesting that you think kids across america who did not get snow with the storm sound like charlie brown s teacher, wa, wa, wa. but it will be a white christmas for a lot of people. yes, absolutely. brian: or like harpo in the marx brothers. got milk? better get more money. steve: why it could soon cost 8 bucks a gallon. alisyn: the police officer with all the right moves, the dancing cop is making his way into our studio. he s cut a rug
alisyn: 42 minutes past the hour. a new report shows big labor employees drawing fat salaries from the taxpayers. it says 35 union officials in the department of transportation are costing taxpayers $4.8 million a year while working exclusively for their unions. and this could be the sour taste. milk may cost you 8 bucks a gallon if congress does not pass a new farm bill. it expired december 31. steve? steve: thanks. yesterday we told you about a new report that said medicare has been paying more than $900 for back braces like that one that should only cost $100. a shocking example of how wasteful spending can drive up health care costs and hit taxpayers really hard. but how else is the medicare system being gamed and what s being done to combat the rampant fraud that s costing us ten and hundreds of billions of dollars? f.b.i. special agent brian waterman is a senior agent in the miami office in charge of